Enchanting Moons
by Beautiful Disaster777
Summary: Traveling the world had been all fine and dandy after the war, but when she picked Mystic Falls over Luna's suggestion of Fiji in monsoon season. Selene(FemHarry) had no idea what she would find moving into the quite little town. Vampires, werewolves, among other things, not a peaceful environment to raise a sweet but quick tempered pre-teen. What was a witch to do?
1. A Place To Call Home

**Hello all,**

**Its been a very long time since I've posted anything, I promise my drabble series has not been abandoned, I've just been out of school and sucked into the vast void that is called work. Now that I'm back, I plan on working on some things that I hope you will like. I would also like to wish you a happy new year and I hope that you like what I have to share, as I'm quite rusty but with some encouragement from some wonderful ladies I now present to you Enchanting Moons.**

**I neither own Harry Potter or the Vampire Diaries**

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><p><strong>A PLACE TO CALL HOME CHAPTER ONE<strong>

"So where to next Luna? Sicily? Perhaps Syracuse?"

Peering over the Quibbler, blue grey eyes shifted back and forth her attention focusing between her friend, and no doubt on one of Xeno's articles about their latest father/daughter trip to the Amazons.

Luna's voice airily replied, "I've always wanted to go to Fiji."

The last Potter almost sighed in exasperation, "its monsoon season Luna." Her friend had a smile that was a mile wide and happily replied with the fact that ganglers were quite the delicacy and were in season. Selene assumed they were a type of fish but decided to let it go.

Fiji was not a place she would visit in its current condition, the "woman who conquered" sighed perusing a map that she had stealthy acquired from her son's clutches as he slept in Luna's living room. Eyeing the world map she ticked off all the places that they had visited so far, which were quite a few, they had just gotten back from Sweden, picking up some of their famous chocolate, which was consumed in a short amount of time.

"I haven't heard anything from the family, anything new?" Selene took a sip of the tea Luna had offered earlier, both women enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of the eccentric woman's garden, the lightning bugs fluttering around them.

"No, just the usual stuff, some of the kids will be going to Hogwarts pretty soon. What about Evander how's he coping?" Luna inquired, her tone turning from delighted to concerned.

Glancing back towards the house Selene ran her hand through her long dark hair, it was down at the moment and she gave a slight tug on it, sighing. Looking back over to the curious blonde the brunette took another sip of skull-cap and chamomile letting the herbal tea ease her into a sense of relaxation.

"Not happy at the moment I can assure you, all he's heard about from his cousins is Hogwarts and all the stories about our adventures. Of course he thought we were 'insane individuals as children', his words not mine. But anyways even if he wanted to go we move too much as is."

Luna had a hopeful look on her face, "But you could always move back home, not necessarily England, but Scotland, or even Ireland, everyone misses you and Evander." Luna's own wants left unsaid, she missed her friend.

Selene shook her head vehemently, "No way on earth would I do that Luna, people are too nosy and I prefer to keep them out of our business, perhaps when he's older but I don't want him to deal with that he's just a boy, I want him to grow up happy, loved and not have to worry about anything other than where he can get his hands on tomes of spells, and potions. Don't think I don't miss you, you're my best friend in the world and you've been such a great help in keeping us always one step ahead of people."

Luna gave her best friend a sad little smile, knowing that trying to convince such a head strong Gryffindor, an alumni would be nigh impossible.

"How about America...", her suggestion the final nail in the proverbial coffin.

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><p>Taking a deep breath, Alaric paused for a moment before he let it out in a short huff. Today was a new day, his apartment was still in shambles with all his moving boxes everywhere, but he made it relatively on time to his first day of work, though from the looks of it, all his students were here before him.<p>

"Good morning everyone..."

No response.

"Alrighty..."

_'God I need a drink...'_

Alaric quickly set his stuff down by his desk, before turning towards the board writing out -ALARIC SALTZMAN-

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><p>"Are you ok?" watching her friend shrug half-hearted in response, Bonnie was making her worry, she looked exhausted and looked like she was having nightmares. Elena sighed before turning her attention to the new teacher.<p>

He was handsome, looked like he was in his early thirties, brown almost blonde hair with hazel eyes, and laugh lines around his mouth, much better than their last teacher for now. Elena'll hold her judgement til later.

The brunette watched as he finished before turning around, Elena noticed that he seem to have more of a grimace than a smile, she knew why soon enough.

"The name's Alaric Saltzman. It's quite the mouth full. I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. My family is of Germanic descent, emigrating to the states, more specifically to Texas in 1755. I, however, was born and raised in Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather who I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce "Al-a-ric" but it's ..."Ah-lar-ric", okay. So you can call me Ric. I'm your new history teacher." Hoping he gave a better smile this time around Alaric also mentioned some time this semester they would be doing a family origins project at a later date.

Que the moans of dread and horror.

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><p>The move to the states had not been as bad as Selene thought it would be. With Luna's blessing and the promise to visit, they left her home a few days later. To be honest the trip was quite fun. They had port-keyed to Salem when they crossed the pond, exploring the area for a few days before taking a car all the way to Mystic Falls, Virginia. Their things had been shipped by Hermes Express, an American company that shipped a witch or wizard's belongings in a way that seemed normal to muggles. They were just passing the town sign and over Wickery Bridge when her companion decided that he was tired of reading.<p>

"Selene"

"Yes Evander?" The youthful woman smiled down at her cohort, a boy who looked eerily similar to her own appearance. They shared the same dark hair, light skin, and bone structure though the difference was their eyes, the witch's eyes were a brilliant shade of green and his iridescent grey, her pride and joy. Selene was quite proud with how he turned out.

It could have been much worse.

"Why must we move to this little town? I will be attending Salem the following year." As hard as he would try Selene knew him to be pouting, though he would never admit to such a crass idea. Her Evander was a late birthday, too far into the first semester to attend Salem Institute or as the rest of their family hoped Hogwarts. She didn't have the heart to tell them he would never get his letter.

Chuckling she patted Evander's hand in a consoling manner, "Do not fret love, I know you've been waiting to attend, but I hope that you would not mind another year of my private teachings no?"

Eyeing the different houses, Selene glanced down at their new address before she turned down a few streets and took a left.

"Besides Mystic Falls is a quiet, peaceful town, where I know you'll be safe and we will have no worries from others. It's been quite some time since we've stepped foot in Wizarding England and we both would rather not have people asking questions would we?"

It's been quite some time, and while it's good being a witch, it doesn't excuse her from not aging a single day past 20, or the fact that she had an heir to the Potter and Black fortunes it was one thing for the family to be aware, but the rest of the Wizarding populace was quite nosy.

She disliked them since she was a young girl and that has not changed one... little... bit.

Their attitude had not garnered any favors either.

"I suppose not..." Was Evander's reluctant reply, he knew she loved him and only wanted the best for him, all that anger bottled up inside him for reasons he could not explain though that fierce anger inside his chest was focused ...differently than before.

Feeling the car slowing down to a stop Evander looked out the window.

Outside was a Victorian styled cottage, cream with dark edging and roofing with a tower and wraparound porch. The cottage was not so secluded from the town populace, but the property was large enough that the distance from the next home was half the size of a Quidditch pitch, surrounded by tall trees, and fauna.

Glancing back at his mother of sorts, a twitch of a smile flitted across his lips before he rushed out of the car.

Laughing Selene shook her head in amusement, no matter how Evan acted all prim and proper he was still a 10 year old boy.

Stepping out of the car herself, she meandered her way towards the house with a wave of her fingers she unlocked the door for Evan. Her magic humming and taking in the new area with interest.

"There are a couple of rooms to choose from Evan, though I think the one with the tower will be to your liking."

Touching his shoulder before he took off she gestured towards the front of the house. Placing both of their hands on the entrance of their home, chanting briefly, their purple and green magic crawling like creeping vines across their property and themselves glowed before settling quite happily deep into the ground.

A surprise for someone who was not polite.

Before she headed inside, Selene looked over her shoulder surveying her property, green eyes searching for any sign of trouble, her paranoia still affecting Selene after all those years from the war.

She shook her head, she shouldn't let her mind wander to such dark places, reminding herself that the United Kingdom was safe from the Dark Lord, Hogwarts has been rebuilt, and Evan and herself has faded into obscurity.

As far as the world knows Selene is still traveling the globe, last time she snuck a look at the Quibbler she was bathing in the warmth of the sun in Tuscany, enjoying fine wine and food . Besides, her fellow magic users of the Isles couldn't see past the end of their noses and imagine that she would settle in America of all places. But she would gladly use their foolhardy ideas to her advantage.

Though if there were any clever beings of the supernatural be they magic users or not, were to find her and felt the need to cross her doorstep...

Let them be wary...

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><p><strong>Well now, hoped you liked it. I tried writing more for this chapter but my muse won't budge. I think its going to be as good as it's gonna get. Tell me what you think. Should be interesting how things turn out. <strong>

**Beau**


	2. A CUP OF GREY AND A CUP OF GUNPOWDER

**Ello everyone I'm so happy with all the favorites and followings, and lets not forget the reviews! Thanks so much. **

**Now I'm sure people have questions as to, well...everything but you will just have to wait to find out! Now on to the story!**

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><p><strong>A CUP OF GREY AND A CUP OF GUNPOWDER CHAPTER TWO<strong>

Taking a deep breath, Selene enjoyed the fresh air of the small town taking in the view of her front porch.

Sipping on a cup of earl grey she sighed in pleasure.

It was an early morning, the leaves a lovely myriad of oranges, reds, and yellows.

The breeze was cool enough to send a delightful shiver down her spine. Spying in the corner of her eye was Evander, his head stuck in a book, a black and green wrap draped over him to stave off the morning chill, a cup of tea sitting precariously atop his knee.

It was peaceful...

Calm...

...and no doubt end in chaos by the end of the day.

Closing her eyes the woman-who-conquered took a deep breath once more before letting all the tension ooze from her body, centering herself. She had to remember that they now had a place to call home, while traveling was fun, the stability of a home, a safe haven was what they needed.

Opening her eyes Selene finished her cup of tea before leaning towards Evan and pressed a kiss to his temple before the witch rose from her seat.

"I'll be out for a little while Evander, get a feel of the town, would you like to come?" He shook his head in a negative consumed in his book of spells and elixirs. As far as the outside knew, it was Shakespeare.

Shaking her head, Selene smiled before she headed inside to grab her keys and she was out the door.

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><p>Walking around the town square for the past couple hours had been quite the trip. There were some quaint shops she was sure that Evander would love. The bookstore for one, and the pastry shop for another, it was a lovely place that she was having a spot of tea. An aromatic pot of Moroccan mint, gunpowder green tea, tantalizing to the senses.<p>

Looking around the room there were a few people here and there. Mostly women talking with their friends, a few children peering into the display glass that held all sorts of treats for them, and then there was a girl she noticed that was by herself. She had long black hair with features similar to Cho, Asian descent most likely.

"You look like you're mind is drifting in a million directions."

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><p>Anna turned her head to the sound of a British accent, eyeing the woman she looked her over.<p>

The woman was wearing a white long sleeved lace top, tucked into a light brown skirt with dark tights and Oxford heels with a string of pearls resting delicately upon her wrist and throat.

She had hair dark as a raven's wing pinned up, her complexion light. But what enchanted Anna the most were her green eyes they pulled you in along with her scent, while it smelled intoxicating it did not stir her hunger, more like an enchanting perfume than anything else.

She was beautiful…

Snapping out of her musings with the feeling of her being watched, Anna broke eye contact with the woman across from her, seeing her smile and gesture towards the seat at her table.

The woman placed another cup before her, pouring a cup of the aromatic tea, her strong sense of smell picking up the soothing aroma of mint and the smoky flavor of the gunpowder tea.

"Hello, I`m Selene I just moved here, what's your name?" The Stranger now named Selene smiled at her and Anna found it hard not to smile back at the woman, she reminded her of her mother in some ways, a calming aura surrounding her.

It's been so long without her mother, that emptiness and sense of loss was such a deep chasm, Anna was so close to being with her again, but perhaps if she got to know this Selene it would lessen the pain if only for a short time.

So she replied back, "I`m Anna."

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><p>Anna was a sweet girl, Selene mused, she liked her quite a bit, a good conversationalist, and was also someone who just moved to town after a comet had passed through. Her mother Pearl was out-of-town at the moment but would be meeting Anna in Mystic Falls soon.<p>

It was easy conversation, both delighting in talking about their travels, and their loved ones, Selene had a "brother" Evander Blackwood, had left the UK traveling for the past couple years due to the terrorist attacks years ago.

It was as close to the truth as they were going to get considering what they really were. While she likes her Potter surname it would draw too much attention, but a branch of the Black name on the other hand...The last well-known Blackwood was an Alchemist during the 1800's who was later hung for his madness.*

Interestingly enough, they talked about all kinds of tea and herbs. Anna enthusiastically talking about her mother`s apothecary that she helped run. No doubt if Anna wasn't a Muggle, Selene would bet galleons that she would love a Wizarding apothecary.

Noticing that it was starting to get late, Selene exchanged numbers with Anna in hope of speaking with her new friend again, perhaps if she was interested, dinner later that day at her home.

Deciding to give it a go before she was out the door the witch turned her body to Anna and asked if she would like to join Evan and herself for dinner.

Receiving a yes, Selene would give her directions later while she ran to the grocery to fetch some things to make dinner.

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><p>It was an hour later when Selene made it home.<p>

Calling for Evan to help with the groceries she heard his feet padding towards her on the hard wood flooring.

Smiling the older magic user motioned her head towards the remaining groceries in the car before heading inside her kitchen.

It was only a short time later when the witch heard the door close with Evan next to her, that she gave him the go ahead.

Taking a deep breath Evan focused on the groceries, and in a flurry of movement all the things the witch bought that day rose out of the bags and with a blink of an eye the kitchen came alive sorting everything in its proper place.

When he was done Evan looked at her with grey eyes seeking approval Selene smiled at him nodding her head, proud at how far he has come with his training. But he always had a great grasp on moving objects with his mind.

"Good job love, you`re getting better at wandless magic. I remember Mrs. Weasley cooking and cleaning with a house charm like that."

She laughed when he scrunched up his face in remembrance of_ The_ Mrs. Weasley, a woman who would pinch his cheeks whenever she took the chance when they had gathered for their last family reunion in France, his grandmother of sorts.

His cousins, he smirked in remembrance had suffered a similar fate... and more..._frequently_.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Evander eyed Selene moving about the kitchen, summoning knives to chop vegetables, pots and pans filling themselves with water among other things. Taking a seat at the island counter he watched as dinner plates and utensils fly across the room and into the dining room, though after observing further...

"Selene, why are there three sets? We arrived just yesterday!"

Turning her head towards Evan, the inanimate objects in the room turned just as quickly pausing in what they were doing to stare at him, making him still, his eyes wary of the sharp and blunt objects almost glaring at him with menace.

Glaring slightly, the witch motioned her head for them to get back to cooking. The inanimate objects begrudgingly turning back to dinner.

"Because Evan, I've made a friend, her name is Anna. She's very smart like you and only a few years your senior. She just moved here not all that long ago and Anna is alone until her mother comes here."

Turning back to her cooking she decided to let her son stew on the matter himself, he always did have a more paranoid outlook on people than she did, and she thought that she was the paranoid one…though knowing him so well as she did, perhaps it wasn't such a stretch to believe that he would be paranoid as he was.

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><p>Evan was silent for a while watching the witch work, the smell of the makings of supper was already making his mouth water. He would never say it out loud but his mother was a better cook than Mrs. Weasley in his opinion.<p>

Crossing his arms he let his body slunk down, and rested his head on top of them, observing her flit round the kitchen.

His eyes naturally fell upon her cookbook, the leather-bound book opened on the meal she was making. It held all of her teas, elixirs, potions, spells, ect... that she had tinkered with over the years of travel. A never-ending amount of paper almost like Hermione's pouch, but would always stay the same size.

The wizard in training having learned that he was to never touch his mother`s cookbook again, the end result when he was eight and trying to impress her he accidentally summoned a small imp.

The demon had caused chaos in the house for a week and as punishment Selene had made him clean the house the Muggle way.

When he asked her why she didn't just banish it back to the Realms.

She happily replied "You summon it, you can deal with it."

He remembered quite clearly that it would beg for her to scratch behind its ears while it would flee and hiss at him. Putting their library to work trying to find a spell to send the impetuous imp back took a week but he did it.

Then he remembered that he had to clean the house the Muggle way had irked him to no end.

It took _forever_.

(In all actuality it took three days)

It was a long three days...

But he thought over what Selene had said, while he was possessive of her time and attention, his mother in a way had a big heart and he knew she would become lonely eventually. Deciding that it would be to his benefit, he would allow the opportunity for this Anna to prove herself to him. Better a young woman his mother could speak with than a male who would no doubt try something… nefarious.

His mother, he knew from experience, was too trusting at times.

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><p>Knocking on the door, Anna patted herself down making sure she looked presentable, hearing footsteps coming towards the door she relaxed smiling, though when the door opened she was expecting to see Selene but got someone else entirely.<p>

He was almost to her shoulders with black hair like Selene but with grey eyes that seem to be analyzing her or more like scrutinizing...smiling at him she gave a little wave figuring him to be Evan and gestured towards the pie she was holding.

"Hi there, I'm Anna,"

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><p>Hearing the door, Selene motioned for Evan to grab it, smiling she added the last few finishing touches before sending the food to the dining room. Motioning with her fingers the used dishes and utensils flew to the dishwasher.<p>

Making sure she was looking presentable, the witch cast a refreshing charm on herself, her clothes pressed and her hair in its proper place as some of her hair had fallen loose while she was cooking earlier.

When it seemed to be taking too long, Selene walked towards the front door coming upon Evan and Anna having a stare down. Laughing at the pair she placed her hand upon Evan's shoulder.

"Hello again Anna, don't mind him this is my brother Evan." The younger girl flashed a smile at Selene, "It's no problem Selene, though you didn't tell me he was cute." Now that, Selene noticed, made Evander stiffen and the tips of his ears turned a light pink.

Laughing she gave her son a side hug, patting him on the head lightly in a consoling manner already seeing the scowl forming on his face.

Laughing again when he swatted at her hand and pulling away he glared with a more "fierce" scowl, before heading into the dining room without them and snatching the offered pie with him.

"Don't mind him Anna, please come in." The smiling witch stepped back and beckoned the younger girl inside, watching as she passed through the door with slight hesitance; she shook off the notion that something was odd when Anna slowly placed her foot passed the threshold. New environment the witch mused.

Closing the door behind them, the green-eyed witch lead her new friend to the dining room to eat.

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><p><strong>Now I know what you're thinking where are we getting to the good stuff? It will be a while as I want to properly introduce the characters to Evan and Selene and make actual connections which is a bit harder with Selene not being a high school student. But I always liked a challenge. Rate and review!<strong>

**Beau**


	3. Names In History

**Ello all! Sorry about the delay work and all that jazz. But I'm going to try and at least post once a week Past couple days been taking notes and watching the first season of Vampire Diaries to recap and refresh. Its been so long! If you have seen the current season I love how Matt is such an awesome human. He's gotten so smart! lol Though i wonder how Elena is going to get out of her sticky little situation.**

**On with the Story!**

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><p><strong>Names in History Chapter Three<strong>

Selene will say this, dinner had been…interesting. She couldn't help but smile the whole time while she watched Evan and Anna interact. Snarky comments flying while they passed the potatoes, a battle of wits over dessert. If she was so inclined she might have conjured popcorn watching the spectacle.

Though it seems it all started because of that one little comment…though she was only able to get away with calling Evander cute until he was five, he had gotten into such a huff stating quite clearly that he was in fact not cute.

Shaking her head she put her fond memories back where they belonged. Overall the night was a success, since then they have had quite the few dinners or lunches, and her favorite, afternoon tea. With long talks on anything that came to mind, besides some name calling Evan got on with Anna fairly well, so well in fact when she brought up her interaction with a boy from the library well...let's just say Evan thought the boy an incompetent twit.

But in all honesty Selene believed Evan fancied Anna, she knew how possessive Evander could get.

At the moment Selene was at the famous Mystic Grill with Evan debating on what they should eat. Noticing a handsome man next to them eating, Selene leaned over and taped his shoulder. "Ello, anything you would recommend?" Hazel eyes seemed entranced before he snapped out of it, giving a short laugh he shook his head.

"Sorry I haven't been here for long, just moved here, you can never go wrong with a burger," gesturing towards his half eaten meal, but seeing her face scrunch up he tossed that suggestion aside.

Taking her accent into account he ran his eyes over the menu once more, "the chicken pot pie seems more appropriate for this weather. My name's Alaric, Alaric Saltzman".

Holding out his hand to shake he took a better look at the Brit, she was certainly beautiful, though she seems a little young for his tastes unfortunately as his eyes took in her slender but curvy figure. But her eyes he thought were mesmerizing... it took him a few moments to snap out of his trance to find her smiling and giving a surprisingly firm shake.

"Selene Blackwood, Mr. Saltzman, a pleasure to meet you, this is my brother Evander but he goes by Evan as well."

"Please call me Ric, I know my name is a mouthful."

Selene laughed, shaking her head in amusement.

"Nonsense, you should hear some of the names I've heard back home, Roman, Greek, stars, and, flowers were real popular."

Ric smiled, a look of disbelief on his face, "they can't be that bad." Watching her laugh once again Selene shook her head. "Oh yes they are, my cousins for example, Draco, late Regulus, my sister in law Fleur, and let's not forget my cousin Nymphadora, though as a warning never let her catch you with her name on your lips."

"Wow", Alaric was silent for a moment," you weren't kidding."

"Tradition at its finest." Selene said with humor.

"Don't forget cousin Hugo, Selene!" Evan piped in smirking. Leaning against his mum, he gently grabbed the menu from her, browsing through it. He frowned realizing that there were so many fatty choices to choose from. They weren't used to eating such heavy fair. Seeing that _"Ric" _was indeed correct, the ten year old almost shy of eleven gracefully slid out of the chair and headed towards the bar.

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><p>When he arrived he quickly climbed up the bar stool, and sat semi patiently to be acknowledged, though upon a closer look the plain bartender was too busy with his phone to be bothered. Evan's eyes narrowed before he made a short but firm noise in the back of his throat, causing him to quickly turn around with a smile before it dropped. "No kids at the bar."<p>

Evan's eyes darted to the ordinary muggle's chest before looking back up deciding to ignore the comment. "Ben was it? I require two chicken pot pies and two waters if you would be so inclined."

Ben looked down at Evan, "You have any money to pay for that kid?"

Evan's grey eyes narrowed, seems Ben was going to be difficult. Perhaps his mother wouldn't notice if he messed with the muggle a bit.

Evan wasn't one to be denied.

Especially if it was for Selene.

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><p>"Yes, poor little Hugo, but my name is a bit out there as well."<p>

"Now I wouldn't say that, just hearing the names floating around here you would fit right in. I have a student named Tyler Lockwood, Blackwood isn't much different."

Selene seemed to perk up when she heard he was a teacher. She smiled, "You're a teacher? What subject?"

"History." Ric replied.

"Well you seem more interesting than Professor Binns, all he would teach was the same thing every year, it was a class we would take naps in honestly." Her green eyes glittered in amusement.

"Thanks ,maybe you can sit in on one of my classes I promise you won't fall asleep." Ric was curious, Selene was an interesting woman though a certain strawberry blonde was flashing in his mind's eye bringing Jenna's smile to the forefront, perhaps a new friend he could use one of those.

Selene laughed,"I would be happy to-" she stopped mid sentence catching Evan in the corner of her eye when his magic seem to spike by just a hair. The bartender seemed to be having a slight standoff with her son. Giving a quick smile she slid out of the seat and walked over quickly. Placing her hand on her son's shoulder to simmer him down she gave a lovely smile for the bartender stunning him a tad.

"Hello sir, is there a problem? I sent my brother to order us something to eat."

Ben seemed to shake his head a bit before he shot her a charming smile, to smooth over anything. She looked very appetizing and he was a bit hungry, the bottled blood was cold and while it did the trick, unappealing... "Sorry Miss, kids aren't usually allowed at the bar my mistake. Two pot pies, for here or to go?"

Glancing back at Alaric she smiled at him before turning back to the bartender. "That will be for here please, I'm sitting with that gentleman over there."

With one last smile towards Ben, the elder witch gently nudged Evan back towards Alaric, waters in hand.

Sliding back into her seat Selene chuckled when she noticed what state Alaric was left in, some ketchup was at the corner of his mouth as he polished off his meal. handing him a napkin she laughed a bit when he sent her an impish grin.

Shaking her head the green eyed witch asked more about him, how he was settling in the past few weeks?

"I'm settling in well, still got a few boxes lying around still but noting I won't get to...eventually."

When their food finally came conversation turned on them.

"So Evan how old are you?"

"I am almost eleven and shall start school next fall."

Alaric threw a curious look their way. "Home school?"

Selene smiled down at Evan.

"Yes, he would of gone this year but his birthday is too far into the year. I would rather teach him, no offence to our school system of Mystic Falls but Evan is a very smart boy, and I rather not hold him back or place him with teenagers as classmates. He shall be attending Salem Institute next fall."

Alaric's eyes lit up, "I remember hearing about that school when I was a kid, a school for the gifted."

Selene smiled but wondered in the back of her mind for a moment if Alaric knew anything. Though perhaps not...when she looked him over nothing seemed magical about him.

Deciding to test her theory, Selene sent out a tiny tendril to slither around Alaric, invisible to a muggle since it was so small.

Alaric rubbed his hands a bit to warm up when an unexpected shiver went through him. "Are you cold? Felt like a draft."

Selene smiled, "No, we're used to this kind of weather, perhaps a window is open?"

Alaric smiled back, though he noticed when taking a quick glance around the grill he didn't see any windows open.

When their food came courtesy of Ben, Selene smiled in thanks and Evan with a scowl before a tiny smirk appeared on his face. Alaric chuckled when he saw that, but hearing a sound of exclamation they quickly turned their heads towards one of the tv's.

A picture of a brunette woman in her late 20's by the name of Daphne Hale died from a vicious animal attack on her evening jog. The news caster telling the residents of Mystic Falls to try and not wonder out late at night near the woods, or alone...

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><p>Wondering into the parlor Stefan found Damon staring out the window, it was bright and sunny but he was still wanting to snap Damon's neck. He wasn't paying attention to him, it would be easy to take him by surprise. Even if all he drank was animal blood. The idea of being able to do it for a good couple of hours along with staking him in the kidney would be nice.<p>

Stefan shook his head, he missed Lexi, and it was his brothers fault. But Stefan made him this way, an eye for an eye.

So he left it be.

"So any idea of where you'll go?" Stefan wanted his brother as far away as possible they weren't good for Mystic falls too many things happened in this town. It would be safer for Elena, he would rest easier if they were far away.

"I don't know. London, maybe. See some friends." Its been a while since he visited, the Beatles were a big thing last time he was there.

Stefan walked closer to Damon before murmuring quite pointedly that his elder brother had no friends of any kind. Wanting it to sting.

Damon almost seemed to slump just a little bit more into the window, staring outside with a look of boredom.

"You're right, Stefan. I only have you." Turning away from the window Damon smiled at his brother with a look of excitement. "So, where are we goin'?"

Stefan gave his elder brother a look, looking at Damon with an, 'are you serious?' "_We_ are not going anywhere. I'm gonna live my life as far away from you as possible."

Damon walked closer to Stefan, "But we're a team! We could travel the world together. Rome, Germany, Brazil!" The younger of the Salvatore's wasn't sure whether or not it was genuine jubilance and excitement.

Stefan gave Damon a look, "That's funny. _Seriously_, where are you going? Because we are not staying in Mystic Falls there is too many bad things happening since we showed up."

The brother's perked up when they head the door bell ring, giving a quick glance towards his brother he quickly walked towards the door only to find the Sheriff Liz Forbes.

Why is she here?

"I'm here to see Damon. Stefan right?"

Stefan nodded his head before glancing over his shoulder, "Damon the Sheriff is here to see you."

"Sheriff. What a surprise, what brings you to our neck of the woods."

The female sheriff had her hand resting on her gun, almost weary in broad daylight, before staring into Damon's eyes trying to convey the seriousness of their situation.

"Sorry to bother you, but we need to talk."

"Come in, come in." Damon quickly motioned her to follow. Pausing he turned to Stefan once the door was closed. "Stefan why don't you head to the study I know you still have some history homework to work on. "

Getting a nod in turn, the elder Salvatore gestured for his ticket into the council towards the back courtyard before opening and closing the heavy door. Once they were at a safe distance from the house where he felt Liz would feel comfortable to talk, Damon faced her with a look of concern, wondering what could cause the abrupt visit.

"I hope you understand the secrecy. Stefan doesn't know about any of this yet and I'd like to keep it that way, at least for a little while longer until he is older, or better yet not at all."

The blonde had a look of relief and admiration at his concern for his brother. Though if she ever knew what Damon was she would not be looking at him that way.

"Of course, kids are too young to be brought into this."

Giving off the air of concern and curiosity Damon asked what was going on. "There's been another attack. A female victim Daphne Hale, was killed by her throat being torn out last night, completely drained of blood. It fits the pattern."

His worry wasn't faked, "I'm sorry. I don't understand. I thought we solved that problem when I," Taking a quick glance at the house he lowered his voice"... staked the blond one." Who was in town? Damon wondered, considering St. Stefan stuck to the bunny diet and he hadn't killed anyone last night.

"I'm thinking she must have turned someone. Or multiple someones. I don't know." Damon scratched her theory off his list quickly knowing Lexi wouldn't have turned anyone with Stefan staying in his home town.

Bringing his mind back into focus the better looking brother learned they were running the story of another animal attack. "But I'm not sure how long we can keep lying to them. The council is in an uproar. We thought we were past this."

"What are you planning to do? Things are still pretty new to me and I want to make sure we come out of this alright." What Damon didn't mention was when he meant we he in all actuality meant himself. Perhaps his brother too if he was feeling charitable. Perhaps he should visit his witch in Georgia.

"Well you are the only one who has killed a vampire, I was hoping you would know?" The blond had a hopeful look on her face.

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><p><strong>Soooo, what did you think? Hoped you liked this chapter. I just want to say thank you for the reviews. I have not quite decided on who I'm pairing Selene with but all in due time.<strong>

**Beau**


	4. Career Night

**Hello All I know its been months but I hope you like this chapter.**

**Don't own.**

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><p>With quick but sure stokes the youngest Gilbert was drawing once again that day, having not been able to put it down since he pulled it from its dusty hiding place.<p>

Hearing footsteps Jeremy glanced up and saw his aunt. Flashing her a smile he showed her his finished piece.

"What do you think? Like it?" Jenna came over and took a look at it.

It was a charcoal drawing of a werewolf, stepping away from the darkness of a forest and into the light.

"Its good, creepy...but good."

He laughed, "Thanks...I was reading an old journal from some of Dad's boxes when I was doing a paper for class. Jonathan Gilbert from the 1800's. Bit of a freak show honestly, talking about demons and a whole bunch of people getting killed. Cleansing the town, sounds like the Spanish inquisition."

Plopping down next to her nephew she went through a couple other sketches, distractedly "yeah, he was a writer, lot of horror stuff though it wouldn't surprise me if there was a lot of possession and crap. You know little towns anything different and well..."

"He wrote fiction? Figured he was crazy or drunken ramblings." Jenna shook her head and laughed, getting up from the couch she grabbed a book before handing it to him.

"Well, he was a Gilbert, probably a little bit of both. They may want you to think they were perfect along with the Forbes, Fell's, and any other founding family but we all have our skeletons in the closet."

Ruffling his hair Jenna laughed when he batted her hands away. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah , yeah, I'm gonna go to the library I'll see you later Jenna."

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><p>"How many times do I have to explain this Stefan? There is another vampire in Mystic falls. and I'm gonna find out who. Now I gotta go I have an appointment with blondie, ...Buh-bye..."<p>

Quickly hanging up before his brother could protest, he ran through his contacts before finding the right one. Pressing call Damon hummed as he waited for the phone to pick up.

A small distance away the dark haired vampire noticed Caroline wandering around with the compass in her hand.

"How much longer Damon, and why do I have to do this? This is, like, wasting my whole day you know. I have better things to do than cater to your violent whims."

"I'll be there in a minute blondie."

Damon smirked when Caroline let out a squeak and jumped when he appeared so suddenly.

"Now the reason why you have to do it is because _I_ interfere with the signal since I'm a vampire. Give me."

Caroline quickly handed it over, smiling Damon stared intently making her focus. "Good- now go home and forget that I had you come here."

Caroline blinked before her eyes refocused her smile bright and bubbly,"OK, Bye now."

Damon's smile was patronizing as he gave a little wave.

"Bye."

Turning towards the large warehouse the compass lead him to he ignored the sound of Caroline's car and concentrated on the slight sound of the compass ticking.

Damon warily glanced around and seeing nothing, fully entered the warehouse.

Deeming it safe he wanted to take a closer look. Not even 5 seconds later it was seconds too late.

Startled by the sound of shots Damon fell over with a loud cry of pain, the wooden bullets digging into his sculpted lower back and legs.

Looking up the dark haired vampire glared when he came face to face with Logan Fell waving a stupid gun in his face.

"I got a bunch of these wooden bullets, so nothing funky."

Damon grimaced in pain while trying to dig a bullet out.

"You could poke someone's eye out with that thing. Guns aren't safe you know", was his snarky reply.

Damon cried out again as another bullet dug into his body, this time his chest.

"That's what you get." The smug tone of his voice and the sadistic pleasure Logan got out of this was rolling off him in waves.

Damon bleary glared at the idiot from the ground. Spitting out blood the blue eyed vamp was exasperated.

"For What!"

Logan looked at Damon with a "duh look"

"You made me like this!"

The elder Salvatore just looked at him like Logan was stupid. "I killed you, turning you on the other hand is a different story. I wouldn't want an idiot as a baby vamp. Got enough idiots in the world already don't need any immortal ones...God forbid if _Blondie_ changed." muttering the last part under his breath.

Intense blue eyes narrowed, "Who turned you?"

Getting frustrated Logan just shot the elder vampire in the knee cap, relishing in the sound of pain.

"Now then, you are going to answer _my_ questions."

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><p>"How is your project coming along?"<p>

Jeremy almost had a heart attack when he noticed that Anna was in front of him at the library table he was occupying.

"Hey Anna, it's actually done I got an A. Thanks a lot for helping me find a focus for my paper. It's really interesting about all the mythos about vampires in Mystic falls. Even if its a bunch of junk."

Marking his place in the book he was reading the youngest Gilbert glanced up towards Anna.

"They have job fair tonight at school if you wanna come."

Anna just stared at him and laughed. "A job fair? I doubt they have anything I would be interested in."

She was laughing on the inside, she was forever an immortal teen, while she was bored on occasion she would never work. Didn't need to work.

Leaving Jeremy at the table she entered one of the rows of books her fingertips running along the spines looking to see if there were any books that she thought Selene and Evan would like.

Anna was starting to grow attached,she needed to stick to the plan.

"Oh? What are you looking for?"

Turning around she came face to face with Jeremy and his cute puppy dog face. Too close, but that's what she wants isn't it? For the plan?

Anna shook her head before turning back around to face the very interesting books. Trying to valiantly ignore the feeling of warmth radiating from Jeremy.

Glancing quickly at the titles she smiled when she found some books about local herbs and their uses as well as crafts.

"Nothing much just some books for my friend and her brother Evan."

"Evan?"

Jeremy never saw the smirk Anna had on her face at the inflection in his voice. Turning around once again she smiled at him the minute expressions on his face let her know he was jealous.

"Yeah my friend Evan I don't think you have ever met. He does homeschooling like me. But hey I gotta go I'll see you later yeah? Perhaps you could actually try and beat me at foosball this time?"

Ducking out from under his arm Anna left a stunned Gilbert behind with a laugh.

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><p>Grey eyes stared blankly into the ceiling, the young wizard bored out of his mind. He had already completed the course work his mother assigned. She usually gives him tougher work...<p>

Evander rubbed his eyes when a huge yawn escaped his mouth. Opening his eyes again the dark spots that were fading from his vision gave him an idea.

A few scant seconds later the grey eyed wizard in training managed to conjure stars.

His mouth twitched briefly into a smile at a far off memory one dark night.

Shaking his head Evan pulled the stars apart before smashing them together in a display of fire and brimstone.

He smirked, glancing up from his place on the couch he saw Selene shaking her head at him.

His destructive tendencies were terrible...

"Must everything be so droll mother?"

"Must you be so easily bored?" She countered smiling, extending her hand, Selene waited for his slender hand to grasp her own and when he did she pulled him up to his feet.

"Come lets go."

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to see our friends."

"We don't have any friends."

"What about Anna? Or Alaric?"

"Anna is your friend and Mr. Saltzman fancies you, which as the heir to this family I do not approve of some muggle making eyes at my mother."

"EVANDER!"

Whether she was mad about the muggle comment or him being able to approve of men was left unanswered.

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><p>It was not very long before they had arrived at their destination. Once again to the Mystic Grille he noticed. They really should find another restaurant or go to the small café Selene and Anna seem to visit. He did not see why, they had a perfectly suitable Solarium.<p>

Dare he say it but he missed his cousins. Though the only one he tolerated was Theodore, but that was to watch with amusement as different body parts become stuck and take hours to change back to human instead of a donkey's arse as his elder cousin tried to use the natural skill he possessed as a Black.

The young Blackwood still has fond memories of the last slip up and all Theodore could do was bray and whine like a donkey.

Fond memories...

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><p>"So how did career night go Alaric?"<p>

Alaric wasn't expecting for Selene to be out so late with Evan. But he smiled none the less at his new friend, saluting her with the glass of bourbon he was nursing.

He needed a drink, flashes of Logan Fell's body rapidly graying and decaying form when he staked him in the warehouse was a constant.

Alaric never thought he was capable of killing someone even if it was a vampire.

Though the thought of that douche bad touching Jenna made him see red.

They were real!

He felt someone shake his shoulder bringing him back to reality. Looking up Alaric saw bright green eyes look at him with concern.

"Are you alright Alaric?" Selene whispered softly, before taking a seat next to him. She looked towards Ben the bartender, "May I have a pot of hot water?"

The elder male tried to wave her off. "I'm fine Selene, don't fuss it was a long night was all. Though I don't think I made friends with the Mayor I'll tell you that much." Giving a chuckle he smiled when the look of concern seemed to lessen.

Though a look of curiosity flickered across her face, arching sculpted brow the younger woman leaned forward,"Oh? What happened?"

"The mayor wanted my two students Jeremy Gilbert and Tyler Lockwood, who is the mayor's son by the way to fight it out.

Which, in response I called him an 'Alpha male douche bag'. He threatened my job I offered to settle it out and he walked away.

Though he was a weirdo, 'You've been marked' whatever that means."

Giving a quick thank you to Ben when he thoughtfully gave tea cups as well. Smiling Selene quickly pulled a jar from her bag. Taking a couple scoops from the jar she placed the golden substance inside the pot to steep.

Soon enough the light smell of apples was wafting around them. Slowly pouring the cups she placed a small dollop of honey and stirred. Placing the cup in front of Alaric she took a sip of her own tea. Glancing towards Evan she gestured to the pot but he shook his head declining.

Ignoring the tea his lovely friend provided, Alaric knocked back the rest of his drink and looked at Selene.

"Now what brings you here?"

Green eyes glanced over at her son before looking back at the teacher. Taking a mental note about the mayor's comment in the back of her mind.

"We are waiting for our friend Anna to come; she promised she would teach Evan how to play Foosball."

"Foosball, huh?", Turning towards Selene's kid brother Alaric figured he could help out. "Well if you want, Evan, I can teach you until your friend gets here."

He noticed how Evan was quite during their conversation; he chalked it up to the 11 year old being polite from what he observed so far.

Alaric has never met a child so well behaved but he knew how boys were and if they were quite no doubt something was up.

"If that's alright with you Selene?" Alaric forgot that they just met a little while back and didn't want to be presumptuous.

The older male seemed to not have to worry for his new friend smiled at him nodding her head in agreement. Though a look he will later on down the road recognize as a sign for compromise/demand for compliance appeared on her pretty face.

"It will be if you drink your tea. You're a bit restless and need to relax."

Alaric glanced at his empty glass to the steaming liquid. What the hell? maybe it would get rid of the slight tremor in his hand and calm him down from the realization of it all...

Vampires were real.

And he was a Vampire Hunter

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><p><strong>I hope that was a nice chapter for you please tell me what you think. what you like and what you want to see. I'm open to suggestions. Still more to come.<strong>

**Please Review**

**Beau**


	5. December

**Hello all just want to say I'm sorry for the hiatus, the winter season was hell working about 65hrs a week.**

**I've also been on a bit of a writer's block but I've been typing away, this chapter was about 14 pages out of 60 at the time I'm still writing and trying to get to the ball rolling to introduce everyone. Now some things I have used from the transcript so I have some points of reference. But I sincerely hope you like where I will be going with this story.**

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fanfiction after all. **

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><p><strong>December<strong>

The road was flying past Damon's field of vision, the trees a blur of green even to his eyes. A nice lovely day in Atlanta, Georgia with nothing but a cool breeze and blue skies.

A perfect day for a road trip.

The blue-eyed vampire was looking forward to this trip for a while now. He had been itching to see Bree and find out if there was anything else he could do since Emily nixed his plan. But seeing as boring Mystic Falls was becoming interesting. He had to stay for a little while longer.

Katherine was waiting for him.

Hearing Elena's heart rate picking up he smiled.

"Wakey, wakey, Elena!"

Glancing over when he heard Elena start to move, he saw her body lock up when she moved a wrong muscle, causing the human girl to groan in pain.

It took the older Gilbert to finally wake up fully and find a comfortable spot before she cracked her eyes open to find the sun shining in her face.

Shutting her eyes quickly, the brown eyed girl squinted at the sight of the older Salvatore, her voice raspy from disuse. "Where am I?"

Damon kept his eyes on the road, but when he heard that question Damon couldn't help but reply in a sing-song tone when he dragged out the word "Georgiaaa."

Elena gave Damon a blank stare, hoping the bump to her head caused her hearing to short out.

She shook her head in denial.

"I must have misheard you Damon, Georgia? I can't be in Georgia, my_ car_,** school**. Damon, Aunt Jenna is going to go nuts worrying about me I can't be in Georgia!."

She glared at him, stopping her rant as she looked him in the eye as they pulled to a stop at a crossroad, "This is_** kidnapping**_."

Damon honestly thought it was hilarious. Of all the things he has done since he strolled into town and she focus' on kidnapping of all things, like that was such a bad offence compared to murder and mayhem.

"_Relaaax_ Elena, you worry too much and that's a little melodramatic don't you think?."

"Besides," Still keeping an eye on the road he kept driving, he figured he would be seeing Bree's bar in the next 30 minutes.

"You should be grateful I scared off your little buddy and saved you from a terrible car crash. A few drops of blood and BAM! Good as new. You should be thanking me really."

The younger brunette shook her head in denial.

"Its not funny Damon, stop the car, stop the car now Damon!"

The male vampire shook his head, annoyed he pulled off to the side before turning off the car. "I hope you realise you make better company when you are asleep."

Elena immediately got out of the car but as she stood up straight she groaned. One hand grabbed on to the roof of the car while the other gripped her knee tightly, trying to keep herself from falling face first into the asphalt.

Feeling a breeze then hands gently ease her up so her back was against the side of the car. Once the girl was steady she leveled a glare at Damon.

"I'm fine."

"You know I can always make you more agreeable Elena especially since you don't have your little witchy talisman."

The brunette teen glared at Damon, and before she could retort she heard a phone ring.

He smirked at her as he dug her phone from his jacket , placing it next to his ear

"Elena's phone?"

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><p>Selene reclined in her wicker chair quite content as she enjoyed her hot tea on this cold December afternoon, the warming charms carved into the wood with the use of runes kept them warm and her garden alive during the winter time. Glancing down at the table the witch tapped her fingers in thought. A calligraphy pen in hand as she contemplated what to write on her personal stationery, and who she would compose a letter to. So many family members to write.<p>

Across the table in the chair opposite her was her only female friend in the states. Anna seemed to be thinking deeply. Her tea she noticed was growing cold. Placing her pen down the immortal witch took one more sip of her tea before she decided that Anna's wallowing would die swiftly.

"Anna why so glum?"

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><p>Anna was sitting in the Blackwood's solarium. Drinking tea once again with the two siblings. The only intelligent people she would spend time with. Things were becoming a lot more difficult than they had to be.<p>

Jeremy the idiot turned her down once again to hanging out with her. She wouldn't admit it, but her womanly pride was a bit wounded at being almost constantly rejected by the Gilbert male. How hard was it to seduce a hormonal teenager into getting that damn journal?!

And Noah! The eager fool couldn't help but cause problems and now the doppelganger was who knows where. Elena disappeared into the night without a trace. The elder Salvatore brother coincidentally seems to make off into the night as well.

Huffing Anna blew a curly lock from her face and decided to come out of her private wallowing.

"Nothing at all Selene, boy troubles..." was the Asian vampire's glum reply. Running her fingers through her hair she sighed in frustration, all this time and planning, staying under the radar of those idiot Salvatores was not easy at times as she made it look.

Though using Logan Fell as a distraction worked well until he got himself killed.

Hopefully Ben would be more promising.

Looking up she noticed that her British friend had set her tea cup down on its saucer.

The green eyed witch leaned forward in her seat, "Well let's take your mind off him shall we. When will your mum be arriving into town? I would like to meet the woman who raised such a wonderful girl, my new friend."

If Anna could blush she would, she would admit that the Blackwoods were good people and so kind to her.

"Soon, she should be home in the next week or so if all things go well."

A smile spread across the British woman's lips, "that's lovely news Anna I can't wait, you must be ecstatic!"

Anna could not help but smile very eager for her mother to be released. Her friend had no idea at all the magnitude of her love and devotion to her mother.

Deciding to stop her daydreams the female vampire glanced over at Evan, from the looks of it had a large wicker basket and a pair of scissors in hand for pruning. There was already a handful of plants he had in his basket. Mint, thyme, and sage among other things.

"Thanks, Selene I can't wait for the two of you to meet."

Taking the last few mouthfuls of her cooling tea, the Asian vampire stood up from her comfy chair and wandered over to Evan.

"What else do you need Evan?"

Anna had decided to stop by and happened to come at the beginning of his herbology lesson. Selene the ever gracious hostess that she was invited her for tea while Evan worked on his studies. Anna was oozing stress and if tea couldn't fix it, it was a serious problem in the Blackwood household.

Grey eyes glanced up from his work to Anna, looking back at his list he quickly replied. "Chamomile for tea, ginger root, and some of the other flowers over in the center. But do try and be careful, I wouldn't want to fix you in case you injure yourself," was the accented reply.

The brown eyed, eternal youth shook her head at him before grabbing the scissors from him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence twerp. I think I know my way around a garden. Be sure not to touch any Nettle wouldn't want you to sting and itch for hours," was her snarky reply before ruffling his ever perfectly combed hair.

The immortal laughed as she dodged his spindly fingers. They were bony enough that his fingers would quickly dig into her side as she has previously learned.

Anna whipped her head around and smiled when she saw that her only female friend laughing at their interaction.

Giving her a wink the eastern woman turned back to the garden and began the soothing task of gathering herbs.

It reminded her of the days she would gather herbs for her Mother's apothecary. So lost in her memories she hissed in shock at the burn on her fingertips.

Recoiling back she brought her fingers to her mouth to try and suck the pain away. With the speed only a vampire could manage she quickly looked over all the plants in that section wanting to know what got her.

To her surprise next to plush red English, roses were a mix of lavender, monkshood, and

Vervain.

"Are you alright Anna?" Glancing up she took note that Selene was standing next to her instead of sitting in her seat.

"I'm alright Selene just pricked my finger a little on one of the thorns of your roses. Nothing to worry about." Smiling in reassurance she turned to find Evan staring at her.

Anna just smiled and tried to play everything off. "Looks like you were right Evan, are you going to kiss it and make it better?"

Evander just scowled and turned his head away, but she caught the small flush of red as blood rushed to his cheeks.

His scowl deepened even further when he caught the sound of his traitorous sister and herself laughing.

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><p>She had been drinking all day trying to block out the idea that Stefan had lied to her and the girl the two Salvatore brothers fought over and loved looked just like her!<p>

What does that even mean?

Was their whole relationship a lie?

Did Stefan even love her?

Or when he looked at her did he see that girl in the picture or her?

Hearing her phone ring she decided she had enough liquid courage in her system and bit the bullet by answering her phone.

"Elena."

"What do you want Stefan?"

Hearing him sigh made her alcohol addled brain angrier.

"Elena I know you are angry, things are not what they seem-"

An annoyed sound erupted from Elena's throat,

"Damn right I'm angry Stefan, how do I look like her? How am I connected to Katherine? What kind of sick twisted-" The Gilbert let loose a growl.

"You know what I don't want to know right now, nor do I care!"

Pulling the phone from her face she hit the end call button before stuffing her phone in her pocket.

Glancing to her right she saw Damon standing there with an indiscernible look on his face, not wanting to deal with him either she stomped back inside the bar wanting to forget all about the Salvatore brothers and hide in her booze.

Shaking her head she asked Bree for another shot, wanting to see if she could drink somebody else under the table.

It was only two hours later that she felt her phone rumble once again that she went outside only to be tossed to the ground by an unknown assailant.

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><p>Nobody was left in her bar, having closed down for the night nearly 3 in the morning, nice and quiet compared to the lively atmosphere earlier.<p>

Hearing the bell above the door chime, she did not bother to glance their way but chose instead to enjoy the burn of good tequila down her throat.

With a sigh, the witch placed the shot glass down and grabbed a rag to start wiping down her bar top.

"We're closed."

"I know, I just came to say goodbye."

For a split second Bree's heart froze in fright causing her to pause in her cleaning.

Damon was supposed to be dead.

Looking up slowly brown eyes met blue, he was so much closer than he sounded a moment ago. The witch would chalk it up to his vampire speed.

"Oh? Leaving already? You just got into town," was the mocha witch's casual if stumbled reply.

Damon gave Bree a smile leaning against her bar top.

"You know me, can't stay in one place for too long, a free spirit if you will."

Bree gave a slight laugh, deciding to try and seem nonchalant as she cleaned, hoping to appear calm as she looked back down to her cleaning.

Noticing that the doppelganger was nowhere to be found, she decided that it would be best topic to speak about. That family line was always a great distraction.

"Where's Miss Elena?"

Damon smiled at her as he came closer and closer to the witch, taking joy in the heady smell of fear. Soon enough, the sable haired vampire was behind her bar and in her personal bubble.

"Elena is in my car tuckered out from all that drinking she did today, she's had a bit of a rough day you know. _Lies_,** betrayal**, teen drama you know how that goes Bree. But I will be heading out."

Bree felt tension leave her knowing he would be leaving her bar and far from her.

Damon gave her a closed eye smile his dimples showing, "what no kiss?"

"O-ff course", hesitantly the brown eyed witch came closer to Damon. Placing her left hand on his cheek to cradle his face before she slowly placed a kiss on his lips.

Pulling back she started to choke suddenly as Damon's grip on her neck tightened, cutting off her air supply. She knew he could easily crush it swiftly, but her oxygen starved brain knew he wanted this to be painful.

Damon's voice was just above a whisper, "Now why would you try and kill me sweet, sweet Bree...hmm?" Tilting his head to the side his sharp blue gaze bore into her, he was quite curious to know.

Her hands immediately tried to pry his hands off of her neck gasping for much-needed air.

Damon watched her dispassionately, having all lack of sympathy for her, she had ruined his jacket and now he smelled of gasoline.

"Lexi...was my friend, how...could...you!?"

"It was easy." came his blaise reply.

"Wait Damon! the...tomb..! It can open!"

Damon's eyes bled red in anger, she was trying to stall. He snarled fangs gleaming, "you're lying!"

Bree tried to shake her head in his tight grip.

"Emily's spell...book,"

Letting go of her neck he frowned, "So where...is the book?"

The mocha colored witch tried to step away from the enraged vampire, the lack of oxygen to her brain made it hard to think. "I, I..."

Damon shook his head with a pitying look on his face." you don't know do you?"

Shakily Bree spoke hoping that Damon would listen to her. "I'm telling the truth." The witch whispered, her eyes watery.

Stepping into the taller witch's space Damon let his hand rise up to sooth her, almost caressing her dark soft curls in a loving fashion, his hands stroking her face, looking into her dark and frightened eyes he nodded his raven head.

"And I believe you, my dear sweet Bree, I'm sorry." Pulling her into a hug he brought her closer running his hands up and down her back in a soothing manner, trying to calm her stuttering breaths as she slowly relaxed, but as she breathed in she started to choke and gasp what breath she could in vain.

Without having to look her last thought before she died was she could only feel agony as her heart was ripped from her chest.

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><p>The Blackwood witch had spent long hours writing many letters that evening after Anna left. Inquiring how her nieces and nephews were doing at Hogwarts as well as their parents. When the green eyed witch woke up the next morning she was just wrapping up her last letter. Evander should be joining her for breakfast soon.<p>

Giving it one final glance over she deemed it satisfactory.

_ December 2009_

_Dear Luna,_

_ We seem to have settled in well at the moment. Without his cousins, Evander has been snarky and melancholy as of late. Note he would never admit it, but I know he misses them dearly. I hope our plans for winter break are well underway, Yule and Evander's birthday is almost upon us and I can not wait to see everyone._

_How is everyone? Well, I venture? Mystic Falls is lovely not nearly as cold as when we were in Scotland almost warm in comparison. I've made two friends so far and a few acquaintances. Their names are Anna and Alaric._

_Anna is a lovely young woman fairly mature for her age and she has a passion for herbs. Where as Alaric is a history teacher at the local high school, better than Binns!_

_But the thing is that I only met them not that long ago but I could not be happier. Though I must say there is something about this town...Perhaps the name Mystic Falls is more than it appears, I feel it and Evan has as well, my little mage._

_The little wizard I swear has grown two more inches since we left. I know he will be much taller than myself, curse his height._

_Please tell me all that has been going on yes? I have yet to set up our floo connection, but as soon as I do I will let you know._

_But I must leave you now, Evander shall be waking soon and I must prepare breakfast._

_With all my love,_

_Selene_

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><p><strong>So what did you guys think? We are looking a bit more into Selene's and Anna's relationship and in the future coming chapters we will see more as well as Alaric. What did you think of Damon and Bree? I'm still fleshing everyone out. :) BTW I turned 24 yesterday! Good times. I was in the birthday spirit and decided to post something. <strong>


	6. Not Everything Goes To Plan

**Hello again my dears, thank you for the well wishes I had a great birthday! Now I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**lilnudger82 -"He could be ATVS Alaric the vampire slayer."**

Damn right! lol I think Alaric deserves far more credit to have survived for so long. Letting him evolve to his full potential is in the game plan. He is a favorite of mine.

**Cat7herinE -"Where did Evander came from? Who's the father?"**

Now a lot of people have been asking about Evander and that is something that will come in due time as well as Selene's backstory. As this is AU where she is female instead of male things will be different. As we get farther into the story more things will become known.

**Elfin69-"I wonder why she does not notice that Anna is actually different from a normal human since she is usually so paranoid."**

Selene is not the type to be necessarily concerned with what type a species a person is, her wards are based on intention and Anna has no intention of harming Selene and Evan. The wards let her know if someone comes to the house and their intentions though.

As for the pairing that is a surprise, I know that everyone is quite eager to get to that part as am I. I got quite the few interesting things in place for that. I'm all about romance and one thing I will promise you is I'm the type of person that loves happy endings. I am not fond of angst period. While there will be drama and heart ache this will not be depressing. It is Vampire Diaries after all.

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fanfiction after all. Again I do not own some of the transcript I have used there really isn't much else to say or words to use to move things along in some scenes. I do not own.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

** Not Everything Goes To Plan**

Besides having afternoon tea with Anna, Selene has not seen much of her young friend as of late. But it was understandable considering how excited she seemed to be a few days ago. From the looks of it Anna's mother would be arriving home soon.

Alaric she noticed was a lot more quiet recently, tense and seems to have become more of a recluse.

It was only a few days later that some life seeped back into the teacher, the reason? A ratty, and dusty leather bound journal was in his grip. Alaric's eyes scouring each page as he ever so carefully turned their fragile pages over.

Feeling quite curious, Selene decided it was too hard to resist.

"May I read it Alaric?"

The professor almost seemed to jump in fright to her question, a chime-like laugh escaped from her mauve colored lips.

Hazel eyes glared at her after the shock wore off, conflicted with himself for liking the sound of her laughter and not liking the cause for the sound.

"Christ you scared me Selene."

"Only a wee bit mate nothing to worry about." Laughing once again she nudged his shoulder a bit with her own. Settling down in the booth that Alaric was camped out in she took her black leather gloves off and placed them on the table top.

Selene was wearing a wool navy blue coat that clung to her figure with one gray button closing it above her left breast with a thick black belt cinching it at her waist. The matching skirt came down to just above her knees. The witch was also wearing dark wool stockings and stiletto heeled black boots.

It was quite distracting.

"Now before I had frightened you, what is it that you are reading? It looks quite old."

The man grumbled a bit but taking a quick glance down at the book, Alaric thought about it. He supposed it would not hurt.

Sliding the book closer to his foreign friend he gave her a quick overview.

"This is the journal of Johnathan Gilbert in the 1860's of Mystic Falls. One of my students lent it to me to read. I'm a big history buff hence my job as a history teacher."

Observing her bright green eyes as she looked on with fascination on her face, the page she was on was many hurried drawings and descriptions. Purple vervain flowers, depictions of burnt skin and mentions of monsters in the night.

Which was quite curious in her opinion with the events that happened earlier in her solarium. Perhaps a different branch of vampires?

Green eyes glanced at him, "he seems to have a knack for storytelling, and it looks like there was an abundance of vervain in the 1800's. But I've noticed that the plant has died out."

"Yes, I've given an assignment to some of my failing students to research Mystic Falls, this town has a surprisingly rich history. Jonathan Gilbert was an inventor but also the town lunatic telling crazy stories of monsters that go bump in the night."

"Well, there are a plethora of mythical creatures that are nocturnal. Evander loves mythology, and loves it when we read books about it. But so few fit the facts, I can only think of one at the moment."

Selene looked Alaric over, he seem to be on edge a bit, she knew the anticipation of her answer was killing him. The word vampire came to mind, but all of the facts that she has read about them seems to be different compared to the lessons she had in school.

Even that ridiculous book Sanguini still laughs about to this day has at least some legitimate facts about his brethren. She will have to contact him soon. It seems Mystic Falls was more than it seems at first glance, then again if it was full of magic she would not be surprised if it drew all sorts of beings.

They came to Mystic falls after all.

"They don't sparkle do they?"

Alaric stared at Selene in disbelief for a moment before he started laughing. Shaking his head the newly minted vampire hunter eyed his friend for a moment before he smiled at her. Alaric did not realize until that moment how much he needed that.

And whiskey,...definitely whiskey.

Thinking back to the other night at the grill when he met his wife's killer. He felt bad that he has been ignoring Selene as of late. But he was not up to socializing the past week, He had been avidly reading and researching as much as possible about vampires.

With a sigh, Alaric shook his head to clear his thoughts. Glancing down at his watch, he looked back up to see the green eyed woman light up with curiosity as she continued to look over more weathered pages. He felt bad that he had to take it away from her.

The brown haired male had to get ready to chaperone that 50's decade dance he has been roped into. But on the bright side Alaric was able to spend time with Jenna. Perhaps if things went well tonight he would have a date in the future.

Here's hoping.

* * *

><p>As Anna was leaving the dance later that night, she wanted to scream in frustration! If she didn't care about causing a scene she would have punched a tree in the courtyard of the school to splinters. The arrogance on Noah! Good God she wanted to thrust a stake in his heart! Oh wait, the Salvatores already did that and now he's dead!<p>

Men!

She only stayed for as long as she did was in hopes of getting that journal, now she was down one partner in crime.

As she was walking across the parking lot she heard talking in the distance. Looking over her shoulder she noticed someone who looked quite familiar.

Recognizing Alaric she smiled, looks like not all was lost. She was very glad that Selene's friend Alaric was not disposed of by Damon.

Selene would have been quite upset to find her friend dead as a doornail because he decided to walk into the cafeteria at the wrong time.

"Hey Alaric!"

Alaric and Jenna looked over and noticed her coming their way. At first he didn't recognize her but quickly realized who she was. They have not seen each other since he taught Evan foosball. They got on rather well though.

"Hey Anna, it's been awhile. Jenna, this is Anna we have a mutual friend."

Jenna smiled at her in greeting. "Hi Anna nice to meet you, are you Jeremy's friend Anna?"

Anna smiled back at them, "Yeah I was just visiting him, I heard he was on punchbowl duty and had to see myself."

Jenna laughed,"Yeah, he's stepping up and grabbing whatever extra credit he can find. I'm happy he's improving."

Anna's smiled widened,_ perfect._

"Yeah, he told me that he got an A on his Mystic falls paper, I actually gave him the topic and a lot of sources."

Alaric had an interested look on his face, "It was a good topic."

She nodded her head. "Yeah I went to ask him for his great grandfather's journal for Evan I'm sure you know how much he loves stuff like that Alaric, but Jeremy says that he gave it to you. I wanted to surprise him."

Alaric's lips quirked into a smile when he thought of the almost 11 year old, Evan was quite the character and his Asian acquaintance was spot on when she stated that Evan would enjoy it. But he was not quite finished with it yet. Thinking quickly an idea popped up.

"Tell you what, if you don't mind Jenna can I make a copy so I can give it to her? I'm not quite finished with the journal yet but I can easily make a copy for you to give to him, I know he would love it."

Jenna did not hesitate,"Sure I wouldn't mind, but we should get going it's late. It was nice meeting you Anna, We'll all have to get together sometime."

The vampire nodded a grin on her face, "of course, thank you guys so much. Just let me know when I can grab it Alaric, we'll meet up soon and thanks again, have a good night!"

With a final good bye they went their separate ways quite content.

* * *

><p>Elena sighed as she woke up in Stefan's bed. Feeling his body cocooning her's as they lay there, and she smiled as she felt Stefan tighten his arms around her. She felt a shiver slide down her spine when Stefan grazed the side of her neck with his lips.<p>

"_Mmm._ Good morning."

Stefan gazed down and smiled, "I could get used to this."

Running his hand down her side he was duly surprised as Elena when Damon barged into his room.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads."

He glared at his elder brother's form, and as they both shot up Stefan pulled the white sheet covering Elena's modesty up higher.

Stefan sighed with irritation, "What are you doing here for?"

When he didn't answer right away, Stefan brought Elena closer to his body.

"Seriously, get out of here."

Damon gave the smutty pair a look, completely unimpressed by the two. As if seeing Elena in shorts and a cami was indecent. Now Katherine's corsets on the other hand...Dragging his mind from the gutter with the promise of later when Katherine and him played catch up, the elder vampire turned his attention back to his brother and his girl.

Giving a cocky and condescending smile Damon replied simply, "If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it."

Feeling that he insulted them enough Damon Salvatore went straight to more important matters.

"Now listen, we have some very important business to discuss."

Elena gave the blue eyed vampire an annoyed look.

"And it has to be right this second?"

"If we want to keep on schedule yes! We have a lot of tasks to complete, now that we're all friends and working towards a common goal." Getting up from the end of his brother's bed Damon did not see the looks his brother and Elena exchanged.

Turning back around to face them he smiled.

"So! In order to open the tomb, we need to find the journal to get the grimoire to undo the spells." Pointing towards Elena he continued.

"First things first-since you are Elena_ Gilbert_, you're on journal duty."

Hearing her name come out of Damon's mouth she sat up more.

"Since when am I helping?"

Damon smirked, "Well, Stefan's helping, and you've taken up residence in Stefan's bed, ergo...I mean you've got to pay rent somehow."

Stefan glared at his brother not liking how Elena was being spoken to. Turning towards Elena he craned his head to her as he looked her in the eye. "You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do."

Sighing Elena looked between the two before rolling her eyes. "I'll look for it tonight." Scooting back down the bed the doppelganger laid back before pulling the sheets over her face to hopefully block out Damon.

"Good."

Stefan had a questioning look on his face. "So how do we know that this journal will hold the location of the grimoire? We're really going to take the word of this vampire? He seemed like a bit of a dimwit to be perfectly honest."

"In lieu of any other options?" was Damon's reply.

Both Salvatores looked over when Elena sprang up like a shot from under the sheets, a confused look on her face.

"OK, what exactly is a grimoire, anyway?"

Damon gave her a simple yet flippant answer, "It's a witch's cookbook."

Seeing that Damon was not going to answer her question fully she turned to her ever so helpful boyfriend when it came to explaining the supernatural.

"Every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself, so every witch would document their work."

Damon waved them off, "Yeah. Cookbook."

Stefan brought the conversation back on track. "What about our mystery vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever's out there knows who we are."

Damon had a frown when his brother made a sadly good point in the grand scheme of things. "And I don't like that disadvantage, so..." The elder Salvatore clapped his hands together. "Chop, chop." As Damon leaves the room he turns around and continues to walk backwards out of the room while talking to Elena and Stefan.

"You know, I really like this whole menage a threesome team thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it."

He chuckles, before narrowing his eyes at them, a slight warning underneath his happy facade.

"_**Don't**_ screw it up."

* * *

><p>Anna was very eager to get that copy of the journal from Alaric this morning. The female vampire had <em>quite<em> the pep in her step as she walked down the halls of Mystic Falls High school. The professor mentioned that he would be at the school catching up on some paperwork and for her to stop by anytime that day.

Hearing a noise, she watched Alaric exit his classroom with the book in question, heading for the staff room she heard the copier going. Smiling she thought.

_Excellent_

The Asian vampire was quite pleased, though she was startled out of her thoughts when she heard another set of shoes click clack across the tile. She watched as Alaric came back with the journal but not the copy.

Finding she was running out of time and needed to make a hasty decision in the next few moments, she decided to cause a quick ruckus. Having an inkling on who the other person was she was not prepared to lose. She knew the Salvatore's were after the journal and knowing that Alaric had a copy hidden somewhere did not make her feel as bad as when he came barreling out of the room.

With swift feet to guide her she quickly snatched the journal and booked it.

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><p><strong>Naughty Anna, but she was going to get it the right way before brother number two surprised her. lol <strong>

**So what did you guys think?**

**Do you like the inner workings and thoughts of the characters getting a look into their minds and what they were thinking as the story goes along?**


	7. Discoveries

**Hello again my dears, I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fanfiction after all. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**Discoveries **

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><p><strong>Mystic Falls High School<strong>

Hearing a ruckus it did not take Alaric long for his brain to kick into gear.

Leaving his classroom he headed back to the teacher's lounge. Opening his locker he quickly and quietly pulled his duffle bag out and retrieved his air gun stake launcher, a jagged pocket knife and a few stakes as well.

Having his weapon of choice locked and loaded he placed his bag back before creeping back to his classroom. Leaning against the wall just outside of his class the newly minted vampire hunter steeled himself before quickly turning the corner and shot at his would-be assailant.

To his utter surprise Stefan Salvatore, without effort, grabs the stake and stares at Alaric.

Alaric begins to reload another stake into the gun as Stefan watches him. Alaric looks down and cocks the gun, moving towards the doorway as he does so. Stefan vamp-speeds around him and blocks his way. Alaric looks up at him and Stefan grabs him by his shirt.

"You shouldn't have done that."

Not even a moment later his student shoves Alaric into one of the desks causing a few to turn over on their sides and clattered to the floor. Though to Stefan's surprise Alaric was not the only one worse for wear as the man laid on the ground.

Feeling some amount of pain the youngest Salvatore looked down to discover that his dark shirt was covered in blood. A nice slash in his shirt and letting his hand gently press to the would he hissed as he felt the mildly deep wound.

It would heal, certainly not as bad as it would be if he had not caught that stake the flew at his face. The man was full of surprises. He did not even notice the man had a knife.

He grunted slightly taken aback by the crafty teacher. Ignoring the pain Stefan bends down to pick up the man's gun. Alaric scrambles up from the floor, tense and prepared for any sudden movement. The pocket knife in his hand was held with a white-knuckled grip, the blood dripping onto the floor as he prepared for the worst.

"Have a seat."

Alaric hesitates, knife still in hand, but Stefan points at a chair, insisting that he does as he is ordered. Alaric reluctantly sits down in a desk.

With Alaric in the corner of his eye he was satisfied that the man was doing as he was told. His attention turned to the gun, the vampire was quite impressed with Alaric's ingenuity.

"What is this, compressed air?"

Alaric remained silent.

"Did you make it yourself? Who are you?" Stefan moves closer to Alaric, and watched as he flinched with his closer proximity. He resisted the urge to smirk, as the predator inched closer to the surface, but the darker half of the youngest Salvatore was broken from the slight haze when he was reminded of the twinge of pain from the knife wound.

Stopping in his tracks he took a more 'relaxed' posture. He wanted answers and his 'teacher' being unable to answer due to fright would not be very helpful.

"I'm not going to hurt you...unless you try that again."

Inspection done and wanting to forge a little trust with the man Stefan hands Alaric the gun. He repressed an amused smile when the weapon was practically snatched from his hand and watching the knife disappear from view.

Stefan pulls one of the desks upright and sits on top of it, facing the would-be vampire hunter.

"Now...who are you?"

Alaric justs watches the vampire for a moment before replying. "I'm a teacher." His whole body was still tense as ever, like a tightly coiled spring ready to spring forward. The vampire might have an air of relaxation but he knew the dark creature before him was pissed. He had to admit with some pride the Boston raised man was

A) uninjured

and

B) managed to lay a hit on the vampire before things went a bit haywire.

Stefan's eyes narrowed into a glare not liking the flippant and basic answer Alaric gave him. "Are we gonna have to do this the hard way?"

Alaric swallowed, it was a bit different talking to vampire like it was a normal conversation. There was not much conversation the last time he encountered a hostile creature. "I'm also a historian, and while researching Virginia, I-made a few discoveries about your town."

The brown haired vampire gave the human a look not quite believing the man. "So you show up like Van Helsing. Come on. Tell me the truth."

Alaric sighed a bit running a hand through his hair. He knew things would be a bit easier if he opened up a bit. "My wife was a parapsychologist. She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. It was her work that led me here."

Stefan was curious if he was here, where was the wife? It would not due to have two vampire hunters now would it?

"Where's your wife?"

Alaric glared at him. His voice had a dull tone when he replied "Dead. A vampire killed her."

The younger Salvatore said nothing and pressed on, "Where's the Gilbert journal?"

The history teacher narrowed his eyes at the youthful appearing male. Not liking the idea of where his thought process was going.

"What do you want with it?"

Stefan did not deem the hunter's question fit to answer and decided to ask a question of his own. "Where is it?"

The faster he had that book the better. His brother's insane goal to free Katherine would end up releasing a large amount of vampires that they would not be able to defend against so easily.

The people living in Mystic Falls would be placed in more danger than they were in already with two, let alone almost 30 vampires on the loose. Elena and her family and friends being some of them and more important in his mind of his list of priorities.

"It's on my desk."

Stefan looked over at the desk before moving his gaze back to the hunter.

"No, it's not."

Knowing that he had placed the journal on his desk, and thinking the vampire blind, Alaric looks over at his desk and sees that the journal is indeed missing. He looks back at Stefan.

"Well...it_ was_ on my desk."

Well that was going to be a problem...

Deciding that he needed more answers before he evaluated the situation, another question was burning at the forefront of his mind.

Green met hazel, the vampire's eyes never leaving the hunter, "How long have you been aware of me?

Alaric still being truthful, he didn't see the harm in answering. He was on vervain so he was not particularly bothered by revealing at least the little he has told "I learned just recently. What about your brother?"

The question made Stefan take more interest in the discussion. He did not think the teacher and his brother have met. An eyebrow rose.

"You met Damon." Surprise was clear in his tone, though the dead stare that greeted him left him a bit wary.

"Who do you think killed my wife?"

Stefan mentally sighed, "Are you certain it was Damon?" He hoped it wasn't so, it would figure the only vampire hunter that just so happens to be in Mystic Falls would want to hunt down one specific vampire compared to the thousands that exist.

Damon knew how to pick them.

"I witnessed it."

Stefan rubbed his temples, "If you're here for revenge, this is going to end very badly for you."

Alaric finally perked back up, back straight and eyes set with determination. "I just want to find out what happened to my wife."

The younger Salvatore brother looked at the human with confusion on his face. "I thought you just said that Damon..."

The hunter shook his head knowing where his 'student' was going with that train of thought. "Yeah. I saw him draining the life out of her. He must have heard me coming. He just...disappeared. So did her body. They never found her. No trail, _nothing_..."

Stefan's green eyes stared into hazel all traces of curiosity gone and was replaced by seriousness. "Damon can never know why you're here. He'll kill you without blinking."

Good teachers were so hard to find, was his excuse for doing this. Also the fact that a second history teacher killed will make people think the position is haunted...But if it came down to it having someone with experience with vampires would help alleviate some of the stress. He could always use the man as bait...

Alaric gave him a look. "I can take care of myself." He knew how to handle himself but who was he not to take advantage of the vampire underestimating him?

The vampire almost laughed but he did scoff. "_No_, you can't. I can help you. If you let me."

* * *

><p>Alaric Saltzman sighed, head in his hands as he sat behind his desk. He left his classroom in a state of disarray deciding to let the janitor fix it later. Stefan had left about a half hour ago and he had been sitting in that same position for that same amount of time. In the end he ended up giving the Salvatore the only copy he had, intending on giving it to Anna but that plan was sunk. Looks like a round of disappointment for everyone. She would understand though, it was stolen after all. The man was way past the point of caring as he went over some very interesting conclusions.<p>

-Confirmation that Damon Salvatore was a vampire

-Damon killed/turned his wife he did not know which he liked better

-Stefan Salvatore was his brother and a vampire

-He plans on killing Damon

-Finally he would have to say, besides the doom and gloom, that he had another date with Jenna.

It was a plus.

* * *

><p><strong>Motel<strong>

Across town Anna was scouring the pages of the journal quite happy with herself and soaking in her victory. She ignored the bathroom door opening as Ben walked in the main area of their motel room.

Towel slung around his waist and small towel in hand. Ben rubbed his hair dry vigorously. Walking closer he tried to give his sire a kiss but she gently pushed him away with a quick shake of her head, too engrossed with the book to care at that point.

Ben frowned "Wish me luck."

Tearing her eyes away from the journal Anna looked over Ben her tone serious with warning.

"Be careful with the Bennett Witch Ben, she may be inexperienced but she packs quite the punch. You are going to have to get her alone and surprise her."

"I know that, I'm not a dumb jock, besides it will be easy since the little witch has a crush on me."

The elder vampire shook her head before shoving a water bottle full of blood into his chest. "Drink up."

* * *

><p><strong>GILBERT HOUSE<strong>

Damon stirred the pot with a spoon a few times as he contemplated everything all his plans for Katherine and him once she was free. He was so close to happiness he could taste it.

Lifting the spoon from the pot he took a little taste of the sauce, finding it a bit lacking he turned around and purposely bumped into Elena, startling her from her own little world.

She looked up and glared, leaning her weight more on her left hip as she crossed her arms.

"Don't do that."

Damon smiled, "Do what?"

She narrowed her eyes "You know what. That move was deliberate."

Damon gave her a closed eye smile, "Well, yeah, I was deliberately trying to get your attention."

Elena tapped her foot, when Damon didn't elaborate she scoffed, "Well? What did you want my attention for?"

Damon said nothing but he did turn away from her to face the stove, he was fiddling with something before turning back around and presented her a spoon that had some type of red sauce. Gesturing for her to take a taste she shook her head.

Damon sighed and rolled his eyes at the eldest Gilbert.

"Its not poisoned Elena, try it! Its missing something."

Elena hesitated a moment before taking a small taste, eyes locked with Damon. His eyes dropped down to her mouth as her lips slowly dragged away from the spoon, her tongue peeked out licking the small corner of her mouth as she stepped away.

She muttered "Needs more basil." before turning away and continued to set the table.

The dark haired vampire stood there for a few moments, the image of her mouth stirring up ideas in his head. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference when Damon looked at Elena, Katherine's image superimposing on the 17 year old.

Shaking his head he broke away from his stupor.

Damon brought back his attention to the pot and agreed with the Gilbert's assessment. On the counter near the stove he let his fingers give the spice rack a twirl before quickly snatching the bottle of dried basil leaves.

He would rather prefer fresh basil but after getting to know the Gilbert family they couldn't grow a damn thing to save their lives. Giving the bottle a few shakes he stirred the basil into the pot.

Deciding to move the conversation he settled the sauce on simmer before turning to face his lover's doppleganger.

"Speaking of Stefan, where is he? He's missing family night, which I am enjoying immensely." He smirked but then frowned when he received no reply.

Quickly appearing in front of her and blocking her way he decided to ask that one question that's been burning in the back of his mind ever since his little brother called a truce.

"Is it real?"

Elena stared at the elder brother hoping to appear ignorant but she knew exactly what he was asking. "Is what real?"

"This renewed sense of brotherhood. Can I trust him?"

Elena looks boldly at him. "**Yes**, you can trust him."

'_Trust him to do the right thing.'_" she thought, all too aware the ramifications if everyone was let out.

Walking away from the intense stare off the teen walked around the male vampire and started to place napkins at each table setting. Damon vamp-speeds over to her. Elena turns around and looks up at him. Leaning back as he invaded her personal bubble.

Damon's cobalt blue eyes looked straight into her own she could of sworn he was trying to pull the truth out of her with that look. She did not know if it was all vampires but Damon's look was quite intense. "Can I trust him?" he asked one more time.

Elena was disgruntled and glared at him her tone indignant. " He's _**your**_ brother, why are you asking me? I'm wearing vervain, Damon. It's not going to work."

Damon cocked an eyebrow at her and frowned, " Even if he is my brother you would have another perspective. I'm not compelling you. I just want you to answer me... _Honestly_."

Elena gave a little smile, she was lying to him. "Of course you can."

Elena moves around Damon and back into the kitchen. Wanting to have at least an illusionary safe distance from him.

"You know there was a time when I trusted him more than anyone. I always looked out for him when we were younger, he was my brother and no one was closer than we were."

Elena leveled him with a look. " Trust breeds trust. You have to give it to get it."

Damon almost laughed, "Are you lecturing me?" He found it fairly amusing that a human girl would try and lecture _him_ of all people.

The doppelganger placed her hand on her hip starting him down. "Do you need to be lectured?"

Damon deemed her question insultive and decided to ignore it. The vampire walked back to the stove and rummaged through a couple drawers before finding a large wooden spoon.

He had already drained the pasta and was adding a bit of butter to make sure nothing sticked. They were having Italian tonight, a simple recipe one of the maid's taught him from his mother's recipes. With some good wine to pair it with and warm toasted french bread they would be set for dinner this evening.

Looking over his shoulder he saw Elena placing down the utensils at the table.

"You know, all I want is to have Katherine back. I'm sure you can understand that. I'm sure you would do the same for my brother yes? But then again, everything is so new, it's only been a few months you have been dating, I can't say where the depth of your feelings are for my brother.

You're young yet..."

He smirked, delighted with the barb.

Elena glared at him not happy with comment, he had no idea what she felt and would not be told otherwise. Grimacing she nodded, "I can understand that you would do anything for her, yes."

Elena walked up to Damon before making a beeline to the fridge to reach for the bowl of freshly tossed salad Jenna made a little while ago.

As she was walking past him, the young doppleganger was stopped in her tracks when the elder vampire grabbed her arm tight.

Damon's voice was a thinly veiled warning, he lowered his lips close to her ear, the threat clear as day. "Then you understand what I will do if anyone gets in my way."

Damon walks away, leaving Elena looking disturbed and worried.

Stefan better get back soon.

She knew Damon to be a killer, it's what vampires do for god's sake.

If Damon did all the things he did up to this point to get the woman he loved, what would he_ do_ if they stopped him?

She shivered, things would not bode well.

* * *

><p><strong>So that's the end of this chapter a bit longer than the others. Though that's two chapters in a week! Please tell me what you guys think I know there are a lot of likes and favorites but I do want to hear from you guys. It feeds the inner beast lol.<strong>

**FYI we are getting closer to the juicer bits. The Salvatore's will be meeting The Blackwood's soon enough and the game will be changing. Tune in next time!**

**Beau**


	8. Duplicity

**Hello again my dears, I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fan-fiction after all. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

**Duplicity**

It was after dinner as they all relaxed stuffed with a delicious meal, Elena and Jenna would find Damon and Jeremy sitting in the family room playing a video game.

Both were quite focused on the game but to Jeremy's disgruntlement after teaching Damon how to play, his ass was getting kicked six ways to Sunday.

"Didn't you say you never played this thing before?"

Damon smirked as his eyes were focused on nothing but the game. "I'm a fast learner. _Quick reflexes_."

Hearing his ringtone go off the youngest Gilbert paused the game and took out his phone, seeing that it was Anna he tossed it aside and decided to ignore it and un-pauses the game.

Hitting the x button he grumbled a curse as his ploy did not work to knock Damon out of the game, his kill shot missing.

Damon did a double tap, he had a bit of a mischievous smirk on his face. "Who are you dodging?"

The youngest Gilbert cursed as he missed and almost got shot in the process. "This girl Anna. She can be, uh, persistent."

The male vampire's interest was peaked. "Is she hot?"

"Yeah, yeah, but she can be weird."

Jeremy was distracted and was not paying too much attention to what he was saying not realizing how much he was revealing to Damon.

Damon just looked over at the youngest Gilbert a perverted grin on his face. "Hot trumps weird, trust me."

Jeremy smiles and laughs shaking his head at Damon.

* * *

><p>Jenna sighed sipping on some wine as she lazily watched her niece rummaged through a bunch of her sister's and brother-in-laws things. The dinner made her stuffed and quite tired to be honest.<p>

Though on the other hand Jenna's curiosity was peaked. It was only a little while ago that things were going back to normal. The blow up between her niece and herself had come to a close and everything was out in the open now. Their bond was stronger.

But unbeknownst to Jenna all the secrets her niece was slowly accumulating.

"What are you doing with all this stuff?"

Elena pushed some of her hair behind her ear as she looked up from all of her family's things. "I thought there might be something about my birth parents."

Jenna had a crestfallen look on her face. "Have you told Jeremy?"

Elena shook her head and continued to look not wanting to talk about it. Sighing she replied "I will. When the time is right."

As Elena was placing the box up she heard the doorbell ring.

Elena knew without a doubt who that could be. Darting up quickly she vaguely heard Jeremy's yelp of indignation when Damon paused the game and beat her to the door.

"Dude!"

Damon ignored the baby Gilbert in favor of opening the door wide with his brother in the doorway. Elena was peeking her head past Damon's taller frame and smiled when she saw her boyfriend.

Stefan looks at Damon, confused to why he's at the house, then to Elena. With nothing to say she shrugs and rolls her eyes, she never invited him over to the house but on the other hand he did make dinner...

Damon had a look of impatience on his face quite eager to get everything going.

"Well?"

Seeing his baby bro not answering the question with the collective Gilbert family present. I.E. Jenna and Jeremy he quickly yanked Elena out the door with a surprised yelp and closed the door quickly. Turning back to his brother he crossed his arms tapping his foot in impatience.

Stefan shook his head in false anger. "I don't have it, someone took it."

The blue eyed vampire's nails almost broke the skin of his palms as he tried to control his anger. With a snarl he asked the most important question.

"Who took it?"

Stefan shook his head clueless "I don't know." He really did not know who took the journal but he said nothing about the copy he had hidden away on his person.

"You know what, it's that teacher. There's something really off about him."

Stefan shook his head in denial, not wanting to bring the teacher under scrutiny. "No, he doesn't know anything. Somebody got to it right before me."

Damon crossed his arms not impressed at all. "Who else knew it was there?"

Stefan looks through the window at Jeremy, but doesn't say anything. Damon looks at Jeremy also and begins to walk back into the house. Suddenly remembering that Jenna was blathering about Jeremy's history paper over dinner.

The doppelganger turned noticing where Damon's train of thought was going grabbed his forearm in a tight grip "No. Damon, leave him out of it!"

Damon's blue eyes focused in on Elena he smirked "Why, what's the big deal?" Breaking her grip he promptly turned back to the door and opened it. Making a beeline back to the sofa he plopped himself down next to the teen, arm resting behind Jeremy and promptly caged him.

Looking him over he smiled that famous smile of his when Jeremy looked his way. Jeremy looked Damon over slowly, hidden instincts making him wary when he saw the look and how close Damon was.

"So...I heard you found a _really_ cool journal from back in the day. Who else did you show it to?"

Jeremy had a look of confusion on his face, why was _everybody_ asking about the damn thing. "Huh?"

Damon rolled his eyes "Don't ask questions, just spill."

Jeremy looks at the older male, amused "You're kidding me, right?"

Elena sighs, wanting her brother to get off of Damon's radar. "Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Jonathan Gilbert's journal?"

Jeremy shook his head even his sister was bothering him about that stupid thing? "Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?"

Elena ignored him. "Who else did you tell?"

The youngest Gilbert shook his head, "Just that girl Anna."

Damon was slowly connecting the dots "The hot, weird one?"

Jeremy gave him a weird look "Yeah..."

Stefan had a curious look on his face "Wait, who is Anna?"

Damon looked at his brother before turning back to Jeremy. "That's what I want to find out."

"So Jeremy how do you know Anna?"

Jeremy gave the eldest vampire a weird look. "I just know her. She wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight."

Damon had a look of excitement on his face. "_Perfect_. I'll drive. Come on." Quickly standing Damon grabbed Jeremy by the arm and yanked him up. Jeremy grunted from the surprise, barely getting out a word of consent before he found himself hauled out of the house and into Damon's classic blue car.

* * *

><p>MYSTIC GRILL<p>

The Asian vampire had to pry herself away from the Gilbert Journal and visit Jeremy. Her mother's freedom was in her grasp. Looking around she spotted Jeremy, leaning against a pool table. Smiling she saddled up next to the mortal teen. "You just couldn't live without me, huh?"

Jeremy smiled back at the pretty brunette "Well, I kinda miss my daily dose of cute stalker chick."

Anna shook her head in amusement. "Oh, funny." The younger male was a laugh. Getting close to him was more of a challenge than she cared to admit, he was starting to grow on her though. Admittedly like a fungus by he grew on her none the less. She would find it quite fitting that his blood would be the tool for her mother's awakening as it was to her demise.

Jeremy motioned with his head towards the pool table. "Let's play."

Not very far away from the pair sat Damon at the bar, listening in on them. Hearing the girls voice brought a young girl to mind back to 1864 all over again. Looking away from them his mind races as recognition dawns on him.

Katherine may have been the center of his universe, but he also remembered Emily Bennett-the witch, Miss Pearl-a close friend of his lover's and...her daughter Anna...

* * *

><p>It was two hours later that Anna left Jeremy surprisingly having a good time. She thought about visiting Selene but thought better of it. Evan would probably be asleep and knowing that they would be having an early morning decided against it. Selene's lessons were quite rigorous and she had <em>plans<em> in motion that had to keep going.

Right now she would visit later when she could have her mother meet the Blackwoods.

Wanting to stop by the motel to have a quick drink to keep her hunger at bay, Anna walked through the doorway only to be accosted and pushed up against the wall with Damon Salvatore at her throat.

Grabbing his own she squeezed hard on the man's windpipe until he called uncle. Anna was a little over 500 years old after all therefore 5 times stronger.

Damon was choking and not being able to hold out against his senior called it quits. "_O-K,_ I give. OK"

Anna looks him over not bothered as much by the grip releases him and in turn he released Anna. Damon coughs and rubs his neck.

"Damn. You're strong for a little thing."

Anna smirks "I was wondering how long it would take you to find me."

Walking around him, Anna moves towards the mini fridge and grabs a bottle. Unscrewing the cap she takes a sip before offering some. Damon shakes his head not in the mood for pleasantries.

"Why are you here?"

Anna gave the younger vampire a dull look. "The same reason you are Damon, though you have been blundering around like an idiot trying and failing to open the tomb. We both want the same things. I have the journal and I want you to help me find Emily's spell book."

Damon ignored the barb wanting more information. Seems like both brothers would be having interrogations today.

"How long have you been here?

Anna crossed her arms over her chest smirk in full force."I arrived around half-past comet, watching you screw up _every_ chance you had to open that tomb."

Damon glared at the older vampire. "How did you know about the spell?"

Anna looked down at her nails a before glancing back up at Damon through her lashes. "I didn't say much back then, which means I heard _everything_."

Damon moves closer to Anna, blue met brown trying and failing to intimidate her.

Damon's mind was working fast going over all of his interactions and memory while he was in Mystic Falls not being able to recall a single time he would of seen her. "So if you've been here the whole time, then why are we just crossing paths right now?"

"I prefer to use others to do my dirty work." Taking another sip of blood she was completely entertained by Damon at the current moment watching him string everything together.

"Like Logan Fell? Oh, yeah, thanks for that, by the way. Little bastard **_shot me_**."

Anna laughed "Logan was an idiot."

Damon could not argue with that one. "Mm-hmm."

Anna shrugged. "We slipped him some blood when he started getting all "Buffy:The Vampire Slayer" with that compass. I needed his family's journal. I couldn't let him die."

"I hate to break this to you but the if you have a hard time remembering the Fell's were a bunch of snooty idiots with their collective heads up their asses. Nothing would be important but their vapid, peacock, musings. What'd you want with the Fell journal?"

Anna sighed in annoyance "I_ thought_ it contained the location of the witch's spell book. I was wrong. According to her journal, Honoria gave the grimoire to Jonathan Gilbert. And, according to this..".

Grabbing said journal from her leather satchel off the dresser she brought it up for viewing, showing the correct page where it mentioned Damon's father.

"He gave it to your father. So now you're going to help me find it."

Snatching it from her hands he looked it over. Reading it Damon only took moments before realising exactly where his father hid the journal, the passage was cryptic to any other person besides those who knew his father, the only ones being his two sons. He closed the book before dropping it into Anna's hands.

Damon was in Anna's personal bubble looming over the smaller vampire before stating his opinion quite clearly.

"Sorry, I work alone."

Not a moment later he vanished from the room, booking it before she could wrap her deceptively small hands around his _delicate_ throat.

* * *

><p>Damon felt he had placed enough distance between himself and the smaller vampire. Quickly driving away from town and heading towards the Boarding House he left his car in the garage grabbed a shovel from the garden shed and headed southeast into the woods.<p>

At the speed he was going he would make it to his Father's burial site in no time. His father's grave having been placed long before their family crypt was built.

It was not even 5 minutes later that he was on the edge of the grave site. When he slowed down because not that far off into the distance he saw flames dancing upon torches in the night and through the trees.

Walking closer and closer Damon felt his way through the darkness he was guided by one singular beating heart. He grew more and more furious and betrayed. He had checked his phone multiple times to see if there was news from his brother and when he did not see a single text and feeling of kinship was set asunder once again...

The reason for it?

Because not even 30 feet away from him stood Elena with a flash-light, the artificial light beaming down on the dug up grave of his father. In said grave was his little bastard of a brother Stefan.

He saw Stefan continue to dig. A moment later his shovel hits something solid and it makes a loud thud. Stefan looks up at Elena with apprehension. He scrapes the dirt off of the coffin with the shovel and the eldest Salvatore watched as the shovel flew out of the grave and landed on the ground with a thump.

Damon avidly watches both of them the couple was not even aware he was even there. Stefan disappeared into the grave, the blue eyed vampire heard the soft sound of soft dirt being wiped away with Saint Stefan's hands. Damon watched Elena kneel down to get a better look, holding the beam steady. Stefan opens the lid of the coffin. He heard Elena release a heavy breath.

"Is that it?

Not even a moment later Stefan retrieves the grimoire, which is cradled in his father's arms no doubt. Hearing the soft thud of the lid closing Stefan stood up grimoire in hand and places the grimoire on the dirt next to Elena.

Elena kneels down, shining the beam on the grimoire and Stefan rips the protective casing that had sealed the precious text from rot and damage. Damon watches as Stefan carefully turns the pages of the grimoire, looking no doubt for the spell.

The sabled haired vampire had quite enough and decided to make an entrance and interrupt their secret little rendezvous.

"Well, what do you know?"

Elena and Stefan, startled, turn around to see Damon. Damon's lip curls up in a snarl.

Damon spoke sarcastically, tone filled with dark mocking. "Well isn't this an interesting turn of events. No text or even a _phone call_? How incredibly rude. I'm hurt." His hand covered his heart as if wounded. Little did they know while Damon was being sassy he felt betrayal burn inside deeply.

"I can't let you bring her back. I'm sorry." Stefan had that tortured look on his face as if his apology was supposed to mean something.

Damon resisted the pull for his eyes to bleed red. "So am I. For thinking for even a _**second**_ that I could trust you."

Stefan had an eyebrow raised and looked unimpressed by his brother's wounded tone. "Oh. You're not capable of trust. The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself."

Damon was frustrated, his brother trying to throw the blame on him for the situation he was in. He almost threw his hands up in the air. "Of course I was going to do it by myself, because the only one I can count on is **_me_**! You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan. But you..."

Damon's fury turned on his brother's girlfriend- Elena,he didn't see that one coming. Though later down the road he would think back as this being the moment he would recognise traits of Katherine in the human doppelganger.

"You had me fooled."

Damon was hurt by the revelation that Elena lied to him and he felt a pittance of satisfaction when he saw that Elena looked ashamed.

Damon held his hands at his sides clenched tight in anger. "So what are you going to do now? Because if you try and destroy that, I'll rip her heart out."

Stefan: called his brother's bluff knowing for a fact that his brother would not have the heart to kill her. The only godsend being that she looks like his entombed lover. "You won't kill her."

Damon nods, knowing Stefan is right. Instead, he vamp-speeds over to Elena and grabs her in a chokehold. Holding her body tight to his own. His grin is feral and he smiles when he feels Elena struggling to break his hold of her but too weak to do so.

"I have a better idea _brother_."

Damon bites his wrist hard and forces Elena to drink his lifesource, Elena tries to keep her mouth shut but with the lack of air to her lungs she had to open her mouth only to choke as the dark red liquid was forced down her throat.

Damon starred his brother down, eyes serious in what he would do if he did not get what he wanted. "Give me the book, Stefan, or I'm snapping her neck. And you and I will have a vampire girlfriend."

Stefan had a look of panic on his face and the eldest brother had a look of complete glee on his face. He had his brother at his mercy and Stefan knew it. "Let her go first."

Damon pulled her tighter not letting there be any space between them. "The book!"

Stefan shook his head trying to negotiate. "I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me."

Damon snorted as if. "Problem is, I no longer_ trust_ that you'll give it back!"

Stefan had a broken look on his face willing to give his brother anything he wanted at this point. "You just did the one thing that ensures that I will."

The raven haired immortal knew he had won, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Okay." Stefan whispered.

Stefan, eyes filled with terror, slowly places the book on the ground at Damon's feet and reaches out for Elena. Damon for a moment held Elena his hold loosening only slightly as he felt her heart jackhammering against her back and into his own chest. But slowly he pulls his arm away from her deciding to keep to his end of the deal.

He watched as Elena slowly edges to the side of the grave like a scared rabbit, then quickly jumps over it and into Stefan's arms. Damon watches Stefan wraps her in a warm embrace. Elena looks at Damon, terrified, before turning away from the elder Salvatore.

Stefan and her walk out of the woods together. Damon watches them go and picks up the grimoire. Looking over at his father's grave he touches the head stone paying respects even if he made their human lives difficult.

Placing the book down and in sight Damon makes quick work of reburying his father with the lightly packed soil. When he had a chance he would move his father's coffin to their family crypt.

Mission complete Damon ran off into the night, heading straight back to his home, where he would lock himself up in the room. Tomorrow would be the day his lover was free at last.

* * *

><p><strong>So that's the end of this chapter a bit longer than the others. Please tell me what you guys think I know there are a lot of likes and favorites but I do want to hear from you guys. It feeds the inner beast lol.<strong>

**How did you guys feel about the inner workings of Damon's mind? What he was thinking and feeling when he caught out his brother? Quite sassy this chapter. **

**FYI we are getting closer to the juicer bits. The Salvatore's will be meeting The Blackwood's soon enough and the game will be changing. Tune in next time!**

**B**


	9. Freedom Is Such A Relief

**Hello again my dears, I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fan-fiction after all.**

**_Guest _**

**_Are you sure this a HP crossover? So _ **far**_ I've only seen the annoying TVD characters receiving attention, where's our Potter girl?_**

Yes this is a HPXVD crossover. But I do have to set things up in a way that makes sense. I want this to be a good story and I can't just jump right in, now can I? Selene does not go to high school, she's a bit too old for that now isn't she? While she does look young and could pass for 20 to 21 she has no reason to go to school. She has Evan to take care of who is currently being home schooled. The HP world is still set up with certain dates. Selene was born July 31st, 1980 so she is 29 years old. It is currently December 2009 at this point in time.

_**RebeliousOne  
><strong>_

_** I'm curious what the Salvatore's will think about the Blackwood's and vice versa. Will Selene befriend any of the fang gang? I miss her and Evan by the way. Will he be going to magic school soon?**_

I can't wait to show you guys what I have in store for when the Salvatore's meet Selene and Evander. As for making friends we will see. Depends if the boys are not stupid.

This chapter is full of Selene and Evan. As well as Anna once again and we introduce some new characters that are aware of Selene and Evan's existence :) I've been wanting to get this chapter out _**forever! **_As for magic school? Evan will be 11 soon and then he goes off to Salem Institute in the fall. There are some things I have written in previous chapters that have been missed, little tidbits of info I think you will like.

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

**Freedom Is Such A Relief**

Today was the day her mother would be set free.

Anna was so close she could taste it and she would be seeing her mother once again after 145 years of being imprisoned.

Last night was somewhat successful. While she did not have the grimoire she did have the witch and _leverage_ in the form of Elena Gilbert.

It was very easy to snatch them up, and right from under the Salvatore brother's too. Smiling she tightened her jacket closer around her.

The Asian immortal was walking through the Town Square with purpose, with enough luck come nightfall she would be united once again with her mother. But she had a meeting first and if plans permitting, she had promised lunch before she had to head back.

"Anna!"

Hearing her name being called she was pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be Jeremy that called out to her. Turning towards the call she saw Jeremy exit the Mystic Grill and jogging to catch up to where she was standing.

The Gilbert male looked happy to see her, which was a surprise since the majority of the time they have interacted she was the one always seeking him out.

"Anna! Hey-uh, what happened to you last night?"

Anna kept looking around anxious to get the meeting started, distractedly she apologised to the teen while glancing down at her watch. "Sorry, I had to leave. I told your sister to tell you."

Jeremy shrugs, "I haven't seen her."

Looking up at him she smiles, she needed to jet. "Well, I gotta run, so-"Turning to leave she felt Jeremy grab her shoulder gently to grab her attention. "Hey, doyouwannagotoapartytonight?"

Anna looked at him funny, he was talking in a jumbled mess and did not understand a single word that came out of his mouth.

"What?"

Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck somewhat nervous now and he slowly repeated himself so he would be heard. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go to a party tonight with me. It's been awhile since I've done anything and I figure it would be fun to go with _you_."

Anna laughed, really? all this time and now he wants to hang out, she chuckles. "So, you're finally ready to go out with me, are you?"

Jeremy nodded his head a large smile plastered on his face. "I like you. You're fun, and you're also kind of strange and lurky but, I like your quirks. So, yeah, I want you to come with me. It's in the woods by that old cemetery."

Anna smiled her attention drawn that tidbit of knowledge. "Oh. It's there, huh? That sounds cool. I'll see you then."

The female vampire smiled at him before walking away from him. Making a beeline for the bench on the opposite side the the town square Anna made herself comfortable.

She did not have to wait for long, when she turned and found Damon sitting next to her.

"Does you family have a thing for Gilberts? First your mother now you?" Damon stated, his voice taunting.

Anna scowled at him, her fangs slightly bared in his direction before a devious smile blossomed on her pretty lips. "A party, right next to the old cemetery. Isn't that nice of them? Lots of warm bodies for starving vampires."

Damon rolled his eyes at her. "You must be senile in your old age Anna, I told you. I work alone."

Anna did not forget, but that's always what plan B was for. "Yeah, so do I. But a little birdie told me you don't have a certain little Bennett witch and I am in need of a certain spell book."

Standing up she felt she had said her piece and as she was walking away Damon grabbed her by the arm. Looking down at where his hand was attached, then to his face she waited in amusement.

"Stefan will come after you, you know that. For messing with Elena." Damon warned her.

Anna simply smiled, not bothered by the threat, they were much younger than she was after all.

She had called earlier that day to set up this meeting, mentioning Elena's name just opened a few doors to make this process easier.

Gleefully the woman quite gently removed her wrist from his grip and condescendingly patted him on the hand like a child.

"Then he won't be to happy if I kill her when I don't get what I want now will he?."

She saw his face scrunch up in a scowl giving up, it would seem. He fell apart quickly after that.

Damon rolled his eyes in annoyance and grounded out. "When do you want to do this?"

Anna laughed once again shaking her head at him. "God, if I didn't know better it sounds like we are living in 1864 all over again. You Salvatore's are truly pathetic when it comes to those two. Tonight. Meet me at the church."

* * *

><p>Looking down at her wristwatch Selene noticed that it was a little past 1 in the afternoon. Anna made a date to have lunch with both Blackwoods today around 1:30pm.<p>

Looking around Selene noticed it was quite full and it would be a time before they would be seated. Feeling a gentle tap on her arm she looked down at Evander, meeting his grey eyes she smiled at him.

"Yes Evan?"

"A woman is walking towards us mother." Breaking eye contact with him the 29 year old looked up to indeed find a woman dressed in a dress suit.

The woman was of normal height, with light brown hair with blonde highlights mixed in as well as blue eyes. She also appeared to be in her late 30's early 40's.

"Hello, my name is Carol Lockwood."

Hearing her voice brought recognition to Selene. The mayor's wife.

Smiling Selene extended her hand for a shake. "It's nice to finally make your acquaintance. This is my younger brother Evan."

The mayor smiled at them, the Blackwood's were both very attractive individuals. No doubt Evan would be very handsome once he grew up like her Tyler. Both were in very smart clothing that day.

Selene was wearing a black and white condensed geometric print dress that came to her knees with black stocking and black leather ankle boot.

Over the dress to stave off the cool weather was a slim fit white blazer with thick black piping and the breast pocket had black lining on the edge as well. Evan wore a dark slack with a button up shirt,with a forest green coat.

When she was informed that they would be having new residents in town they had to file everything through the Mayor's office since Mystic Falls is a small community.

They had taken up the old Black property a lovely victorian style home. The mayor's wife had many conversations with the young woman in front of her and they had gotten on rather well over the phone.

"I hope you are both settling in well, I felt I should give you some space to settle. You've come at the perfect time, all the town events begin in the spring."

Mrs. Lockwood was more than happy to prattle on about their town functions that were coming up, but knowing Evander he was quite hungry. The mayor's wife thankfully seemed to remember that Evan was there.

"Look at me, talking so much please have a seat at my table for lunch."

Selene smiled graciously,"Thank you Mrs. Lockwood."

The brunette woman shook her head. "Please call me Carol."

Selene's green eyes sparkled in amusement, the woman seemed pleasant enough. "Alright then Carol, then please call me Selene."

All three settled into the booth, it was not much later a waitress came by and took their drink orders before taking off.

"Now, that we are settled, are you excited for the Christmas tree lighting celebration this year?"

The immortal witch shook her head gently. "Carol while I'm sure we would have a wonderful time at the celebration we actually have other plans for the winter break."

Evander perked up when he heard that. He has been a little down as his birthday drew closer. He thought he would be all alone without his cousins.

Carol had a slightly disappointed look on her face, if anybody knew Carol Lockwood it was her passion for all the events and anything to do with Mystic Falls really.

Running her fingers through Evan's dark hair she smiled down at him. "We are flying across the pond to visit our relatives in France. My brother and his wife are hosting the family gathering this year. We have a very large clan you see.

It will be Evan's birthday at the end of the year so we will be celebrating all winter break and will not be back till after the new year."

"What brought you to the states then? I know you mentioned that you were from the UK."

"We travel most of the time, but Evan will be starting school next fall and the house is part of my family's holdings that I have inherited."

"Well I hope you have a safe trip, and I insist that you two will be my personal guests for the Founder's Events in the coming months. It is the celebration of our town's founding 150 years ago. Carnivals, a parade, even a masquerade!" Carol turned her head towards the pool tables. "Tyler!"

Turning to look over in the direction that she shouted, she saw a young man in his teens with dark hair approach their table.

"What's up mom?"

"Tyler I would like for you to meet our new residents. Tyler this is Ms. Selene Blackwood and her young brother Evander Blackwood.

Selene, Evan, this is my son Tyler he is on the varsity football team at Mystic Falls High School." She was beaming quite proudly, happy to show him off.

Tyler looked away from his mother to look over the new town residents.

When his eyes landed on Selene he was shocked by how hot the woman was. She appeared to be in her early 20's with long midnight black hair with the greenest eyes he had ever seen.

Dragging his eyes away from her was hard but a scowl quickly formed when he saw the little brat glaring at him. His hackles rose when the kid would not look away and back down.

Looking away from the stalemate Tyler smiled that charming smile the Lockwood 's were known for. In the corner of his eyes he saw the pipsqueak glare when he set sights on Selene. "It's nice to meet you Ms. Blackwood."

She was not oblivious as she appeared. The immortal witch found it amusing that Evander was glaring, so the witch smiled back, her left hand running up and down Evan's back in a soothing manner.

"It's lovely to make your acquaintance Tyler, your mother has told me quite a bit."

Tyler glared at his mother, before responding. "All good I hope?"

"_Tyler_! Of course I did." The young man's mother almost sounded scandalized as if she would do such a thing.

Selene chuckled at the bickering pair. Smiling she ruffled Evan's hair and watched his scowl increase before setting his hair to rights.

Though he stilled and a small smile blossomed on his face. Looking in the same direction she gave a slight wave to gather Anna's attention.

Looks like their friend had come after all.

Seeing that they had been found, Anna smiled before making a beeline towards them.

"Hey Selene sorry I'm a bit late, I just finished. Got room for one more?"

The immortal witch nodded her head before making room for her friend. "Of course, come join us, Mrs. Lockwood this is my friend Anna. Anna this is Mrs. Carol Lockwood the Mayor's wife, as well as her son Tyler."

Anna extended her hand out to them, "Hi mam, it's nice to meet you. I moved here in September."

A quick hand shake with mother and son had Anna seated in the booth.

"That's wonderful dear I hope you are liking our little town? Are you settling in well?"

Anna smiled once again she wasn't expecting to run into the Mayor's wife and son. "Oh yes I am mam I love Mystic Falls. There is just something _special_ about this place."

* * *

><p>Later that night Anna snuck up on Jeremy, surprising him. She ended up with a kiss for her efforts and scowled when Ben showed up and knocked out the littlest Gilbert.<p>

"Did you have to hit him that hard?"

The Asian vampire got a glare in return, seems her progeny was a bit jealous. "Yes."

Anna rolled her eyes at him. "Well, you knocked him out _you_ have to carry him. And please for the _**love of God**_ don't screw it up.

You already fucked up once already letting the Bennett witch go."

Ben tried to defend himself, "It was_ Stefan_! I didn't have many options, I don't have a daylight ring like you do ok!"

Anna rolled her eyes at him, not in the mood for excuses.

"Whatever, let's have him meet my mother."

Heading deeper into the forest Anna, Ben, and an unconscious baby Gilbert silently made their way towards the tomb. The moon was almost in the correct phase for the ritual to begin and they needed to make haste if they wanted to get good seats.

Making their way through the forest it was not long before they made it to the clearing with the ruins of the church. There was torchlight, and Anna heard the faint chanting of the witches. It looks like they were right on time too.

Seeing Stefan they silently watched him messing around with what looked like a flame thrower. Ben's sire could only assume that it was for the tomb vampires down below.

"Hey Hero."

Stefan's head snapped up looked up to see Anna and Ben, though looking down at Ben's feet revealed Elena's baby brother.

It certainly made him more cautious.

"I'm going down there to get my mother." Short and sweet.

Stefan eyed up both of them. Anna he knew would be tricky, Ben on the other hand was an idiot.

"I can't let you do that."

The 500 and odd years vampire shrugged, she was unsympathetic. "Well, Ben's about to make a main course out of Elena's little brother. So, you can stop me or him. Your choice."

With that she made a dash for the tomb and let the witches in the dust as she made quick work of entering the tomb, she needed to find her mother.

Stefan watched the young vampire for a few moments before he spoke, his posture relaxed.

"Do you really think that she cares about you? Hm? You're disposable."

Ben shrugged, he was not falling for any mind games today he was still ticked about earlier. "I don't care. She already gave me what I want."

Stefan cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to say 'eternal life'? You really that stupid?"

Ben moved closer towards Stefan.

The brown eyed fledgling eyes darkened to pitch black as his face transformed. His pose predatory. "You know, I've heard about you. You don't feed. You're not strong enough to beat me."

With that Ben rushed at Stefan. Stefan thrusted his arm out as the younger male charged him, clothes-lining Ben and easily knocking him to the ground.

Meanwhile Stefan picks up the hose connected to the gasoline can that he had close at hand. Watching as Ben got up from the moss and leaf strewn ground the young vampire hissed at Stefan.

Ben smirked it looked like this would be easy, so much for the bunny diet. "Is that all you got?"

Stefan just gave him a closed eyed smile his brother was known for. Must be a Salvatore trait. "No. I got this."

The youngest Salvatore brother ignited the torch and sets Ben on fire. Ben let out a piercing scream as his body was covered in flames. Stefan watched with sadistic fascination as the younger vampire flailed around.

Though he had no time to watch him die, as the next moment he heard Elena scream in pain and fright. Without even a backwards glance Stefan took off for the tomb.

* * *

><p>Inside the tomb Anna frantically searched for her mother among all the desiccated corpses. As the Asian vampire went deeper into the tomb she came across Elena. Appearing behind the stupid girl, her voice was quite gleeful and loud, <em>bubbly<em> almost. Damon was not with her.

"_Hello Elena_."

Elena turned around so quickly at the sound of her voice that she tripped over her own two feet. Falling to the ground she looked up at Anna and backed away from the pursuing vampire.

She felt something solid against her back and when she took a brief moment to look over her shoulder she let out a small shriek at the sight.

Behind her was the desiccated form of a female vampire. Her skin an ashen grey, she was covered in dust and cobwebs. If she didn't know better the female doppelganger would say that the corpse in front of her had met the True Death.

Elena's former kidnapper opened her mouth to say something when her eyes caught something.

"**Mother**!" Elena never heard someone so happy. The young human watched as Anna caressed her mother's arm gently before turning to face her, where had the happiness gone? Anna looked angry at her. "Your boyfriend did this, you know."

Elena didn't like the accusation, being defensive of Stefan. Stefan was only trying to help at the time. "His father did, lay the blame where it really belongs."

Anna stands up from her crouch position next to her mother, her small form towering over Elena's prone position.

"Let's not forget Jonathan Gilbert, your ancestor. I made a choice a long time ago that it would be Gilbert blood that brought her back to life. I had Jeremy all ready to go but...since you are here."

The female vampire flashed her fangs, taking primal enjoyment at the smell of fear, she watched in amusement as Elena gasped and bolted for the doorway of one of the tombs.

Chasing after the human girl was easy, grabbing her by the hair Anna dragged her back with little resistance. The immortal teen grabbed Elena's wrist and bit down hard.

Hearing Elena scream made her irritated. "Shut _up_ and stop struggling." The vampire growled out before forcing the little human down to her knees and gently pressed her bloodied wrist to her mother's mouth in order for her to drink.

The Asian vampire licked her blood-covered lips as she watched her mother take a few pulls of Elena's life blood.

Good she was awake.

The 500 year old vampire knew the scream would draw Stefan towards them. She knew with her mother weak as she was made them vulnerable. Anna also knew they would need to book it and with the motel compromised she would have to find somewhere safe to go.

_But where?_

* * *

><p>It was just a little past 2 am when the witch woke up with a start, feeling something off Selene stilled, letting her breathing slow down.<p>

Closing her eyes she felt some magic different than her own pulling at her.

It was completely different to what she knew as wand magic but different compared to some of the other magics she has come across in her travels.

As Selene did not have a wand anymore the immortal witch expanded upon her education when she traipsed around the world.

As she visualized it in her minds eye it looked like a slithering black tendril trying to pull at her magic.

Frowning with her brows furrowed she let her magic descend upon it before ripping the magic to tiny shreds like a vicious animal. She was a Grey witch, but that piece of magic felt_ fowl._

Satisfied her magic curled in on itself and settled down in her body, done with the threat. She did not know what that was, but it was gone now. At least for moment, she would look into it another time.

But now it was time to go back to sleep. Settling back down in her plush and warm bed the witch, noticing that the room's temperature dropped some since the green eyed witch went to sleep.

Looking over towards the fireplace she frowned when she found only dying orange embers.

The witch motioned with her hand a levitation spell towards the wood stack neatly in a log cradle.

The wandless spell lifted a few logs and settled them nicely in the hearth. And with a snap of her fingers the fireplaces flared back to life.

Enjoying the crackling fire, the brunette witch settle comfortably in her warm bed.

Closing her eyes she smiled before she started to drift off back to sleep. Though it was not to be as she was once again roused from sleep as she felt her wards rattle because of unknown company.

Giving a frustrated groan the immortal witch threw the covers back from her body. Standing quickly the green eyed witch left her room, went down the stairs, past the kitchen and living room before she made it to her front door.

With a robe and nightgown being the only thing keeping her warm Selene wrapped it tighter around her as she braced herself against the biting cold.

Surprised to see Anna so late and with what seemed to be a mummified body garbed in 18th century clothing.

Anna seemed quite relieved to find her awake.

"Selene please help, I need you, please let us in."

"Who is she?" The witch's voice was soft as she gazed upon the two.

Anna glanced down at the weak form of her mother, she didn't know if Selene had vervain in her system, but she hoped against hope that she judged the other woman right, that she was kind and would understand.

"She's my mother, I needed to find a safe place and I feel safe with you."

Selene studied Anna, her eyes heavy with silent judgement, things were still for a moment before a kind smile graced Selene's face.

"Of course, hurry inside quickly now, your mother will need blood."

Gently closing the door behind them so they would not disturb Evander. Selene gently placed her hands under the woman's elbow and back and helped them to the living area to the couch, uncaring of the dust and grime.

Settling the decrepit body on the sofa, Selene then stood straight before she cast a subtle _lumos_ to light up the room so she could get a good look. Taking in the woman's condition, the immortal witch decided that she would need to gather a few things.

Anna seemed to be in her own little world, her focus solely on her mother. The dark haired witch placed her hand gently on her shoulder to gather Anna's attention, she looked up at Selene, brown eyes met bright green.

"I need to gather some items for her. I'll just be upstairs for a moment. I have some spare clothes for her and something to help her feel better. From the looks of it she has been desiccated for a very long time."

"You know?" Anna's voice was low as she realized quickly that Selene knew what she was without telling her. It was not till just now that the female vampire was conscious of her surroundings.

Selene smiled in response. "While it took a moment to figure it out, I never heard of your kind of vampire until recently, while similar there are a few traits that vary from the kind I have met before. Now all worries aside I'll be right back."

Bending down Selene brushed back Anna's hair from her face and soothingly ran her fingers along the crown of her head.

"All will be well my friend, just wait."

Turning away from the pair, Selene quickly moved through the house before reaching her bedroom. When she entered Selene went straight to the large wall opposite of her bed and tapped the wood gently with magic infused fingertips.

Within the next moment the solid wood disappeared to reveal an assortment of unbreakable crystal vials filled with a variety of potions. They were kept on a spinning rack, sorting through them the green eyed witch found the one she was looking for.

Grabbing two vials filled with a rouge colored liquid. Selene sealed the hidden case from sight before she grabbed a spare night dress.

She immediately headed back the way she came and headed for her kitchen and opened the cabinet next to her fridge.

Opening it she quickly snatched a couple sticks before heading back into the living room.

Anna was still sitting next to her mother, by the time she came back the older vampire seemed to have lighten from pitch black to a light gray.

Her eyes were red and lips bloody from dried blood across her lips. Blue and black veins surrounded them, making them stark against the grey weathered skin.

"Good, I'm glad you fed her something or this would not work nearly as well as I would hope."

Bringing a chair closer to where they were perched on the couch, the black hair witch set the spare nightgown near her before presenting the two crystal vials to them.

"Now then, seeing as you are more awake I can assume you can understand me?" Green eyes met bloody red orbs and a slight groan came from the woman's parchment dried lips.

Taking that as an agreement Selene decided now would be a good time to start the explanations.

"Seeing as I do not have blood on hand to give, I have these two vials for your mother. Now I will need you to gently pry her mouth open in order to have her drink them.

This potion is a blood replenisher. Normally when one loses a decent amount of blood I would only give them one.

But seeing as your mother has been desiccated for a long while I shall give her two instead. Once that is done I will need to help you move her to a guest room in order for her to take the time to recover.

Anna you are welcome to the other guest room but I imagine you will not desire any separation.

Once she is able to move more freely once the blood in her system circulates we will set about having a bath and then she can have proper sleep. Though we will be talking more about this in the morning at breakfast."

Anna just nodded her head, she would do whatever Selene told her to do if it made her mother's road to recovery faster.

She also did not want to hide things from her friend. But she needed to talk to her mother first.

It has been a very long time since she has trusted any human being. Her friendship with Selene and Evan has been wonderful but she wanted her mother to trust them as well.

Breaking from her inner musings she gently took one of the crystal vials from her friend. Pulling the cork stopper free she ever so carefully pried Pearl's lips apart and tipped the red contents down her withered throat.

* * *

><p>Evander lay awake in bed. Even though his mother did try and keep the noise down to a minimum it did not matter because of the simple fact that the wards on their home roused him from sleep.<p>

Stretching, Evander stood from his warm bed. Pausing at his bedroom's door he heard his mother's light footsteps as she made her way back to her room, it was moments later when he heard her make her way back downstairs.

Opening the door he quietly made his way down the dark wooden staircase. Walking into the kitchen he made his way to where he could peek his head around the doorway into the living room.

There the wizard in training saw his mother as well as Anna and an unknown woman covered in dust and grime. His nose scrunched up in distaste, the woman was filthy!

Seeing Selene hand over a crystal vial to Anna he watched as she coaxed the blood red potion past parchment dried lips.

Grey eyes watched in fascination, when Anna moved the woman's head up and towards her his eyes widen. Why was there a mummy in their house!

The young wizard could not tear his eyes away as he watched the grey skinned woman slowly but surely gain more color as time went by. It was then he realized what exactly that potion was.

Recalling his potion lessons in the solarium the other day his mother's soft cultured lit floated back to the surface of his mind.

* * *

><p><em>It was a couple days ago he was standing next to his mother in the Solarium, a cauldron was simmering softly as he watched Selene stir a few more times before the immortal witch extinguished the flame.<em>

_"Do you recall what potion this is love?"_

_Evander thought for a moment, remembering what ingredients exactly was in the potion._

_"Blood Replenishing potion mother?"_

_Selene smiled at him. "Excellent! You are correct Evan, it is a medicinal potion. Your grandfather was in need of it when I went to school. Do you remember the scar on grandfather's neck?"_

_Recalling the two hole punctured scar on the red haired man's neck he nodded. "Yes mother."_

_"That was due to a magical snake that was very venomous. The magical properties of the bite made it hard for the blood to congeal and close the wound and because of that he was in need of the potion every hour until the venom was flushed out of his system."_

* * *

><p>She watched her mother with bated breath. From the sounds of it, it would not be long before she would be well again.<p>

Listening to her slow heart beat, the withered organ stuttered for a moment and as time crept by the elder vampire's heart began to beat stronger.

Looking over to Selene she gave her a watery smile, the potion was working as it made its way through her mother's mummified body.

"The potion helps multiply what blood there is in her system and she should gain more function within the hour and she will be able to move freely sometime the next day.

Now once we get her settled in her room after the hour is up you will need to feed her the second potion. Once you have done that. I have these for you to give to her."

Anna took the second vial and placed it in her jacket pocket for later use. Curiously she took what appeared to be lollipops red in color from her friend. Sniffing them she was surprised to find that they smelled like blood.

"Those are blood pops they are a sweet from back home that I have a slight taste for. They contain blood and sugar.

It should help your mother some until we can acquire some blood bags to feed her with. I don't want there to be any mishaps..."

* * *

><p>Breaking out of his inner musings Evan heard his mother tell Anna they were welcome to stay as long as they needed.<p>

Turning back around he opened the back door of the kitchen leading into their solarium. The moon was shining down through the glass ceiling.

Sighing the grey eyed boy moved towards one of the many wicker chairs. Sinking down into one he let his body relax into the chair.

It was nice and warm compared to outside in the dark night. It was the middle of winter and his birthday would be soon. He had never been away from the family for his birthday.

Even with all his travels with his mother growing up they have never, not once, celebrated his birth without the family as annoying as they are. He was quite pleased to learn they would be traveling soon enough.

Closing his eyes he relaxed relishing the ambient noise and warmth. The occasional muffled growl from some of the more magical plants in the garden that were asleep made itself known.

He must remember to help feed them in the morning with some bloodied rare chunks of meat.

With as relaxed as Evander was he was not very surprised when he heard the wards give off another ping to let him know someone was there. Standing from his position, the young wizard walked closer towards the east wall of glass.

Looking outside he saw by the light of the moon rustling leaves of the bushes surrounding their home. Not a moment later a body was stumbling through. It was hard to see who it was in the dark but as the body of what he now realized was a man, made him frown.

But upon closer inspection as the man crawled closer to their home and more entrenched in his territory he felt a smile grace his lips.

For in the light of the moon he found the male to be no other than Ben the bartender.

His face was raw in appearance his skin looked hot to the touch and was bubbling and burnt in places.

Quite nauseating in his personal opinion. His clothes burnt in some places and in some melted to the man's skin.

It was quite gruesome to look at but the young child could not help but feel a tad gleeful that his misfortune curse worked.

The small bit of magic that he let loose a month ago at the grill that made sure that any luck Ben did have went to crap.

As he was a muggle he didn't use a lot, he did not want to get caught by his mother after all.

But it seems a little too well it appears. His nose scrunched up in distaste at the smell of cooked fleshed.

He frowned though remembering his mother was in the house with Anna and the mummified body garbed in 18th century clothing. He would need the crispy fellow to leave and seek assistance somewhere else.

One strange case was enough.

Deciding to tell the other male to shoo, Evander walked out the side door leading outside the solarium, he briskly walked into the cool night air, his house slippers making slight crunching noises as he walked on the cold dirt and grass beneath his feet as he crossed their property.

Standing only a few feet away from the man he felt no fear as he observed the male in pain at his feet.

Evander has never seen someone burned like this. While gruesome to look at, like all boys they had a strange fascination with dead things and wanted to poke it with a stick so to speak.

Anything gross really, he blamed his rowdier Weasley cousins for that.

"Hello Ben, I understand you must be in an awful amount of pain from the burns but I must ask you to leave. You are not welcome I'm afraid."

Hearing a groan, he did not back down but his eyes did widen when he saw that Ben was more than he let on.

Fangs were bared and the male's eyes were blood red with pronounced veins, black and blue in color. He tried not to jump in surprise.

The man's voice was guttural and in pain, no doubt from the fire and the tissue was regrowing. _"You will give me your blood, you will not scream, you will not run away."_ The vampire tried to compel the young boy but would find out that to be very ineffective.

The young Blackwood knelt down calmly before he was eyelevel with the creature.

"No."

The creature growled before it made the attempt of lunging at him, it was not a second later that the male's body burst into flame.

The male did not even have the ability to scream as his body was destroyed.

Stepping back from the scorching heat Evan turned his head from the scene.

Serves Ben right, there was two good things about this situation. One, Ben would no longer be an issue to the safety of his mother and two the wards are in working condition.

Taking one last look at the flaming body he quickly made his way back into the house. The fact that his body was shaking was stubbornly ignored.

Recalling his history lessons about the inquisition and the witch trials, the witches in question had cast flame freezing spells and had a merry old time.

The majority of the time the 'witch' in question was a muggle, or a weak witch in terms of power that were caught and burned at the stake...

Noticing that the living room was empty once again he walked up the stairs and instead of entering his bedroom he quietly opened a door a little further down the hall before closing it.

In the darkness he made out the outline of his mother's bed and her fair face was highlighted by the moonlight from the sunroof window above her. She truly looked ethereal as the moonlight shined down on her and the firelight highlighted her face as well.

Her eyes were closed and her breath even as he carefully pulled the covers back. The young wizard gently crawled into the large bed before snuggling closer to her warm body.

Pulling the covers once again over them he smiled into the crook of her neck as he felt her pulling him close to her side, his body smaller in comparison to her's.

He felt her kissing his forehead and the little wizard felt her smile against his skin. "Sweet dreams my love. Nothing will harm you, not while I'm around."*

Evander breathed in deeply, releasing a long sigh as he let his body unwind and relax. As he fell asleep he was not bothered by any nightmares, his mother's presence was enough to scare any away.

* * *

><p><strong>So that's the end of this chapter the longest one yet! Just shy of 7000! Please tell me what you guys think I know there are a lot of likes and favorites but I do want to hear from you guys. It feeds the inner beast lol.<strong>

**So Pearl is out of the tomb everybody! Yayyyyyyy!**

**I always liked her and Anna and I thought it was a shame they were both killed off so early in the show. Evan was protective and sweet, if a little bit of a pyro the wards feed on the desires of the owners. He seems to have handled Ben dying in front of him ok but he was very shaky after. Reminds me of an 11-year-old Selene and the Quirrell yes? The ball is rolling now and won't stop!**

**Also how did you like that seen with Anna and Elena? I was grinning when I wrote that particular scene. Anna gave zero fucks and was not in the mood for Elena's dramatics and dragged her by the hair! lol Please tell me you all enjoyed that as much as I did?**

**Until next time,**

**Beau**


	10. I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

**Ello again my dears, I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fan-fiction after all.**

RebeliousOne chapter 9 . Jun 20

Loved it! Don't know how I missed this update. Evan is such a scamp. So protective of his mom. It's cute. Did you mention who his father is? I'll have to check to see if it is something you added in or if I just forgot. I like how Selene handled Pearl's condition and Anna. Since she is a grey witch, she obviously won't be so judgmental like the canon witches. Something tells me that she'll clash with them big time. Especially Ester! Will Elijah and Nik have heard about her and her immortality? I can't wait to see her interact with them. Perhaps Kol for a change?

**Thank you! I have not mentioned who the father is that is later down the road but I know alot of people are quite curious. Selene is a grey witch she is neutral which lets her pretty much be whoever she wants. Her role as a hero has long been done and now she has her own desires and whims as to how her life will go. Not judgemental at all and everyone will not know how to handle her, they will be thrown for a loop.**

vampires are awesome chapter 9 . Jun 10

Hello  
>About that scene with elena and Anna that was sweet sweet paradise reading that made my day cuz sometimes having watched the show and read the books elena pisses me off because she basically becomes Katherine after she's introduced to the supernatural world. Anyway that's not that important I loved the chapter and I love both characters Evan and selena they are interesting and fun to read I just love how they reacts and their thoughts it amuses me. Anyway until next time update soon.<br>Ciao

**I'm so happy you enjoyed that I will tell you right now I dislike Elena quite alot her character will clash with Selene quite a bit.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

**I can't take my eyes off of you**

It was a crisp and chill morning, the previous evening left a slight frost on the Blackwood property. Yuletide season always brought warm feelings of love and joy to mind for the past 20 years, some of Selene's best memories with her family. The darker half of the year brought people closer together. She loved the winter time.

The former savior was slowly taking sips of her spiced chai tea. With ingredients such as cardamom, cinnamon, milk, and honey to name a few.

Radiant green eyes closed in contentment as their owner enjoyed the warmth flowing down from her throat all the way to her toes.

The eldest witch in the house had a few moments to herself, as all current residents were still asleep. She had tried to sleep longer but had trouble staying asleep in the end.

The dark haired witch had to sneak out of her warm bed to make a cuppa, if she didn't throw a sleeping spell on Evan she knew he would have woken up considering he was wrapped around her like a boa constrictor having sometime during the night crawled into her bed, she vaguely remembered pulling him closer to her body as they succumbed to Morpheus.

Now that she was more awake, the witch thought back on last night. With all the excitement going on she did not have much time to contemplate and fully process the previous evening's events. Or should she say this morning?

To put it simply Selene had discovered that her friend was a different species of vampire. Compared to her old friend Sanguini, the Roman vampire having confirmed it a couple days ago. She was very excited at the news and decided that being friends with Anna would be much easier with her being of magical origin.

* * *

><p>The Blackwood witch was a tad delirious from lack of sleep the previous evening. Helping Anna care for her mother had been slightly draining but worth it. A Pepper-Up potion she knew as a faithful companion throughout the years should do the trick.<strong><br>**

Having just finished making breakfast, she felt someone's presence at the kitchen table. Turning around she was met with a freshly cleaned vampire in the night dress that Selene had left the woman to wear as well as a warm robe. Without the cobwebs, dirt, grime, and desiccation, Selene admired the beauty of the Asian female vampire in front of her.

The vampire if she were to guess was in her late 20's early 30's but the woman's skin was as flawless as her own when it came to signs of aging. Dark hair and dark eyes the color of obsidian compared to her daughter's brown colored eyes and beautiful porcelain skin.

"Good morning." Selene smiled at her in greeting, calm as can be.

She had nothing to fear in her own home after all, but Selene did not think it would be necessary as the aura the vampire gave off was similar to Anna's which boded well in her opinion.

Though the woman gave nothing away on the surface she gave off feelings of wariness, was defensive, with hints of gratitude and curiosity thrown into the mix.

Adjusting her robe she tightened the belt keeping it together around her slim waist. Feeling like tea would be a good start, she offered."Would you like some tea?"

There was a moment's pause after her question before she received a nod in acquittance.

Taking a seat at her table, Selene smoothly reached for a teacup. Setting it down next to the teapot the witch gently lifted the warm vessel and with a twist of her wrist expertly poured it into the cup.

The witch watched the steam rise lazily from the warming drink. Ever so slowly she moved the cup to Pearl's side of the table for easy reach before once again taking more tea from her own cup.

Selene watched over the rim of her teacup as the female vampire picked up the cup with both hands and cradled it as she took a small sip of tea. The immortal witch observed as the dark eyes who have never left her figure close involuntarily with what she knew to be bliss.

It had been 146 years since the woman has had anything to eat or drink. Selene knew she would find anything wonderful at this point.

Nothing like a cup of tea to start the day.

* * *

><p>Dark eyes slowly opened, not saying a word as she set her cup down. When Pearl had fully woken up this morning she was completely disoriented.<p>

Being in agonizing pain for so long then _nothing_, no awareness, light, blood, the feeling of despair and loneliness was heartbreaking and not knowing whether or not her daughter was alive and well. How long has she been desiccated? Pearl had nothing but her tortured thoughts and the agonizing groans of pain from her fellow tomb vampires. They were the only thing to keep her company as they all withered away to nothing but husks, shells of their former selves.

But in the end her Annabelle saved her and they were together once more. The ancient vampire silently vowed that she would never allow anything to separate them ever again.

Pearl rejoiced, she was alive!

Pearl looked over her daughter's_ 'friend'_, she appeared human. The elder female vampire remembered some of her daughter's brief explanation before the 500 year old vampire fell asleep once more. It would appear that gratitude was in order and never let it be said that she grew up in the rice paddies like a commoner.

"I would like to express my gratitude towards your hospitality Ms. Blackwood." Her voice was soft and measured, carrying a sliver of her eastern accent and decorum drilled into her from an early age.

Luminescent green met obsidian once again and Pearl received a small smile from the woman.

"Anything for your daughter," was the human's reply.

Pearl placed her cup gently down on the table her eyes narrowed at the comment. Feelings of possession for her daughter swelling to the forefront. No one would have the capacity for wanting to give her daughter the world except **her**. She wanted answers and looked at her companion in question her attention solely focused on the other woman.

"Anna has told me that you have become friends. What do you want from her? What do you gain from assisting us?"

* * *

><p>Selene kept her posture open towards Pearl, she knew what the questions were about it was only reasonable of her to do so.<p>

Knowing that in order for their friendship to remain intact she would be truthful. Selene was also quite excited to find other supernatural beings, she always did get along well with magicals of other species.

"I want nothing but my friend's happiness. I did not know what Anna was until just recently and even then I was quite surprised to find her on my doorstep asking for help. Which I gladly gave. She has not spoken of anything but you Pearl. I'm happy to provide shelter and you both have proved to be non-hostile individuals so far."

Hearing slight movement from upstairs, Selene looked up at the ceiling of her kitchen and after having felt the sleeping spell wearing off she came to the conclusion that her sweet Evander was slowly waking up.

Focusing on the protective vampire mother in her kitchen once more, her tone took on a similar quality of possession and protection instead of calmness, from one mother to another.

"As you can tell by the other heartbeat upstairs I have someone to look after other than myself. He is my most precious person and I would not let_ anyone_ that proves to be a danger to him around him. So you can trust in the fact that we have the same purpose in life."

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><p>Pearl thought about it for a little while longer before nodding her head in agreement, a tentative truce in hand. As Pearl was about to continue their discussion it was halted as a new but familiar voice broke the din.<p>

"Mama, what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting."

Both women looked over towards the doorway to find the topic in question was in their presence.

She looked a mess, seemed tired staying up all hours of the night. Pearl knew the lack of sleep was due to her daughter wanting to help her gain strength from her imprisonment.

Black eyes smiled warmly happy to see her daughter before her soft voice calmly answered. "Anna, I'm fine. The potion your friend gave me has worked miracles. But I am quite famished."

Brown eyes though tired smiled back just as happy as her mother. "Let me whip something up for you."

Hearing a clearing of the throat both vampires turned their attention back to at the mystery woman that the house belonged to. Both were quite surprised to find a large selection of food to eat suddenly appear before their eyes.

"Now, who's hungry?" The immortal's eyes sparkled with mischief, being a second generation marauder had a tendency to perk up on occasion.

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><p>Chuckling she served herself some waffles, a dollop of freshly whipped cream she made this morning and a variety of colorful berries.<p>

Delicately she picked up her fork and knife and cut up her meal into smaller pieces before placing a piece of her fluffy Belgian waffles in her mouth. Looking up she caught the mother and daughter staring at her then the food before their eyes traveled back to her.

"Do I have food on my face?" Picking up her napkin she gently dabbed it around her mouth before checking the napkin. Finding nothing there, she placed it back on her lap and began eating her breakfast once again.

After a couple more bites of her meal, she took a sip of her delicious tea.

"You know, you should eat lest all this food go to waste."

Anna finally spoke up from her stupor. "Selene where did this food come from?"

Selene looked at them from over the rim of her teacup, her smile hidden from view. "I made it this morning just before you both came down remember? Fresh waffles and fruit. Bacon and eggs? Speaking of Evan should be down soon enough if nothing else the smell of bacon tends to rouse him from sleep." Chuckling the immortal witch set her cup down once again to continue eating.

"Selene..."

Selene looked up from her meal a cheery smile on her face. "Yes, Anna?"

The younger female vampire looked at her mother then back to her friend. The dots were connecting.

"You're a witch aren't you?"

Selene simply took another sip of tea before answering, amusement shining through.

"Indeed, you see it took me a little while to figure everything out for I have never met one of your kind before. But I must confess I have a little secret of my own. For you see I am a witch."

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><p>Anna just stared at her friend a moment letting the information sink in.<p>

It took her completely by surprise considering they have been friends for almost two months. While that was not very long, they just clicked right off the bat being quite drawn to each other.

But going over every interaction she could not think of a _single_ moment where she would be able to imagine that her friend was a witch. She just seemed so normal that it completely took her by surprise.

There was not a single witch she has run into that has not required a price for their assistance. Even Emily as helpful as she was was very prejudiced against their kind.

The woman helped them, even if she did not have to, expecting nothing in return but Anna's friendship.

Another thought struck her. "Is Evan one a well?"

He was too young the vampire thought, witches tended to start their craft once they reached their teens from what she remembered.

"The correct word would be Wizard, but yes. Now what happened last night? Clearly you have had an interesting evening."

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><p><strong>So that's the end of this chapter, so sorry for being gone I got into Peaky Blinders and it is Amazing! I'm actually working on something for that. Please tell me what you guys think I know there are a lot of likes and favorites but I do want to hear from you guys. It feeds the inner beast lol.<strong>

**I hope I did Pearl justice and the cat is out of the bag lol I hope you found it amusing.**

**Until next time,**

**Beau**


	11. A Little Song Bird

**Ello again my dears, I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fan-fiction after all.**

**I just want to say that I'm sorry for the delay. This chapter was hard to write, I was trying to find a way to explain things properly without regurgitating the whole magic explanation. I hope I did a good job I'm not too sure about this chapter, but I thought you guys deserved an update.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

**A Little Song Bird**

The master bedroom of the Blackwood household was shrouded in darkness. The fire having died down to ash in the wee hours of the morning left the room dark and cold. Hidden underneath the last dredges of warmth in the room was a head of black hair, surrounded by a nest of warm blankets.

Slowly the young wizard began to rouse from sleep. Uncurling from his fetal position, he stretched his limbs as far as they would reach. Pausing mid-stretch Evander became more aware and felt the bed with his right hand. Feeling the rest of the bed he noticed that there was one less body and he frowned when he noticed the bed was cool.

Sitting up right his grey eyes peered into the dark, he did not see his mother anywhere. Though pausing in his search, he took a deeper breath. His nose filling with the wonderful smell of bacon.

Feeling a slight rush of energy he was climbing off the bed quickly before hustling off to his own lavatory. Standing in front of the sink, he began to brush his teeth so he may join his mother downstairs.

Eyeing his reflection in the mirror, he frowned at the nest of hair that had formed during the night. Sadly his hair was always a righteous mess in the morning, it always took some time to correct it to his liking.

As the wizard in training finished brushing his teeth and washed his face to wake up more, a slight shiver ran up his spine at the various cool temperatures he was exposed to. Slightly grumpy Evan concentrated on his core, wanting his magic to warm his clothes.

Feeling a surge of heat, the young magic user released a sigh of contentment.

With that settled he set himself to the momentous task of taming his hair. With a sigh he snatched up the hairbrush from the sink cupboard and began his final grooming ritual.

It was a few minutes later that he took a step back and gave his reflection a once over. Happy with the result he quickly left the bathroom to descend down the stairs.

Making his way down Evan followed the smell of breakfast and when he entered the kitchen he was met with Anna, his mother and an unknown woman who had features matching Anna.

As they chatted amongst themselves Evan observed the new woman in their home. She had obsidian black hair that shone like silk and dark, dark eyes the color of pitch.

She also seem to hold herself the same way his mother did, an elegance reserved for a select few of high society. But flashes of last night swiftly came back to him when he came to the conclusion of who she was.

It was the same woman who was incapacitated in the living room at 2 am in the morning mummified, and he was pleasantly surprised to find her not covered in filth.

"Good morning Evander."

Focusing his eyes on his mother instead of the oriental mummy he replied.

"Morning mother, good morning Anna."

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><p>Annabelle Zhu had woke up with a start this morning. The vampire found herself sitting in a chair next to an empty bed, with a slight crick in her neck. Massaging her neck she yawned as she recalled the previous night's events and early morning. Running her fingers through her hair she found it to be a bit of a mess.<p>

The immortal oriental had tirelessly kept vigil over her mother's condition and when it appeared that her mother was whole once again, did she help clean her up. Once freshly showered, Anna helped her mother into fresh clothes before letting her sleep.

Standing up, she quickly came down to the kitchen to find her mother and friend in a stare down.

Watching the two go back and forth, Anna thought on the fact that things were never simple and even her tireless planning of her mother's release, she found more than she had expected.

What she had not been expecting was the fact that her friend was a witch. But not an ordinary run of the mill witch that she was used to. Oh no, Selene it would appear was not a servant of Nature and neither was Evan.

The green-eyed beauty was of a different breed altogether as she and her mother had discovered. For the proof was right in front of them, freshly whipped cream, waffles, eggs and bacon suddenly appearing without preamble. The female vampire had never seen that before. Even without an explanation did she realize that things will never be the same.

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><p>Selene smiled at her son, before she began to introduce their newest guest. "Evander this is Anna's mother Pearl, they are vampires."<p>

Evan's eyes seem to enlarge at the statement, almost frowning at his mother's declaration before narrowing. He believed her but at the same time_ not_...

"Mother...it's daylight.." Selene almost chuckled at her son's tone of ludicracy, almost being the key word because if even a sliver of a crooked smile made its way onto her face, it would leave her with a pouting ten year old, he had a major dislike of being had.

"I know love, I was puzzled as well, but they are a different species altogether compared to the vampires of the magical world."

Turning her attention back on the older immortals, there was a curious glint shining in her green eyes. The witch wanted to learn all their secrets, reminding her of herself and Hermione's need to learn everything about the magical world and all that came with it when they were but small girls.

"If you do not mind me asking how is it you can walk in sunlight? Is that a trait of your species? My friend Sanguini did not mention that tidbit."

Anna and Pearl shared a glance between each other before looking back at Selene before turning their eyes on Evan with a weighing gaze.

Catching the by play the witch took another sip of her warm tea before speaking. "If you are worried about Evander knowing do not be bothered by it. Evander is quite good at keeping secrets."

Anna nodded her head, deciding to trust her friend's judgment. Considering that for 500 years the only person she was trusting of was her mother, it was a big step and a realization that she trusted her fellow brunette.

"We have daylight jewelry which are made by the witches that we are familiar with. They protect us from the harmful light of the sun and allows us to blend in more."

The younger vampire waved her hand to show the piece of jewelry in question. The ring was made of silver and had an oval cabochon cut lapis lazuli. The rich blue hues of the ring seem to cause the ring to shine in a way that caught Selene's attention.

"My mother has her necklace, we never take them off."

Anna set her hand down before reaching for the fruit bowl before scooping some onto her mother's plate. "You need to eat Momma. It will help some."

The immortal witch smiled at the pair before producing a familiar vial filled with red liquid.

"Here Pearl, you are due for another dose of the potion, this should help until I can gather some sustenance for you."

Pearl turned her attention towards their host before she smiled in thanks, gently extracting the crystal vial from the witch's hand.

The mother vampire opened the vial before downing it. It was not as satisfying as blood but it did the trick, the coppery taste was slightly satisfying with its resemblance to blood. Without the elixir Pearl knew without a doubt that the process of undoing the damage of desiccation would be much more agonizing without it.

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><p>"May I see your hand Anna?"<p>

Quirking a brow, Anna with little care extended her hand to lay it on top of Selene's own, her palm pleasantly warm against the cooler skin of her own hand due to the lack of tea.

Watching Selene's long slender fingers wrap around her hand Anna remained silent as moments passed by. When the vampire decided to look up she watched as Selene's bright eyes hooded closed and her pretty lips forming into a smile.

Normally if a witch ever physically touched her they would freeze up and tension would tighten their eyes and mouth. Disdain usually followed due to a 'bad feeling' or vision. But her friend seemed to be slightly buzzed. Which in her wizened opinion was _odd._

"What is it?"

* * *

><p>Selene let the magic that animated Anna flow through her and released a relaxed sigh. Her skin was smooth and cool to the touch but the death magic felt lovely to her senses and she felt the vampire's age. The magic was like a fine wine, and with the consumption of wine always leads to a lovely buzz. Now that Selene was paying attention she could feel the well of Death magic. It was at least 500 years old and left the immortal witch with a slight high.<p>

Shaking her head to break the invisible connection, Selene released the female vampire's hand. Smiling the green eyed witch reassured her friend.

"Nothing bad I promise, it's been awhile since I've been around a vampire, let alone one your age. My friend Sanguini I have not seen in a few years but he is quite old and he is the ambassador for the vampire clan he belongs to. I can feel your lifeforce, all the magic that keeps you alive until now is quite heady."

The younger vampire smiled before it morphed into a self-deprecating frown as she explained the way things went. "Usually witches can feel if a person is a vampire or not due to the spirit magic that created us. It sends a feeling or vision through touch, they see death... Nature's servants find us to be abominations against nature herself. Though from the legends of our birth it's more like they are ashamed and show disdain from what their magic has created."

Selene frowned at the explanation, theses witches seemed to have similar prejudices as the populace of the wizarding world. There was still some that found magical creatures to be below wizards. But with her victory led change for the better it also helped that her and allies had a large voting block in the Wizengamot.

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><p>Evan set his fork down on his now empty plate. Quite stuffed as he was, he left the talking to the three women at the dining table. Preferring to keep silent and just listen the young wizard tried to let the information process.<p>

Evan remembering that he wanted to feed the plants this morning quickly put his dirty dishes in the sink and opening the refrigerator he plucked up a bag filled with chunks of bloody meat. Bag in hand he made a beeline for Anna and tugged on her arm, he wanted her to come with him. If he was late the plants would try and devour each other.

"Come on."

She looked down curiously at the bag clutched in his hand before she was almost dragged away from the table. Deciding that she liked her hand where it was quickly followed after Evan away from the kitchen and into the Solarium.

Anna, still in a daze with new information stood and let the younger male drag her much farther into the Solarium than she has previously explored. They quickly left their mothers to themselves.

_"I am a witch while Evander is a wizard."_

_"We live in a hidden community away from muggles. Muggles are non-magical humans. The reason why I'm not alarmed by the fact that you are vampires is because while the Wizarding community has a slight aversion to Dark Creatures they also have mutual respect as a fully sentient and cognitive beings as our laws dictate._

_Our magic is apart of our very being we were born with it, now the majority of the magical world uses wands to wield magic. To create and destroy, change and bend the laws of physics. The world is our playground. Now every country has its own laws the statute of secrecy forbids us from telling a muggle about our magic._

_I have books that can tell you about our world. It's simply magical."_

_Anna looked at her mother before turning back to her friend._

_"What kind of magic can you do?"_

_Selene smiled "All sorts of course, spells, hexs, curses, rituals, potions like the one I gave your mother. Charms and transfiguration as well, I'm a bit more special than a normal witch of course, so the sky's the limit for me."_

_Pearl spoke up, "We have met witches before you, what makes you different to the servants of Nature? "_

_"I know a challenge when I hear one, all right then." Reaching for her teacup that was next to her she placed it in front of her instead, it was smooth black porcelain that shined when the light hit it._

_With both hands she gently picked up the small teacup before covering it with her cupped hands._

_Smiling she blew a gentle breath into her hands before she ever so slowly unfurled her fingers. As the witch's hand pulled back instead of a black teacup there was a tiny black song bird looking back at them. Its head tilting from side to side as it observed its surrounding in curiosity before hoping off its perch and onto the table soft little chirps leaving its beak._

_The two Asian vampires eyes were wide in shock as their eyes followed the little avian avidly._

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><p>Looking around she felt her brain turn slightly fuzzy before a moment later gained clarity once more. She did not remember there being another section.<p>

Hearing a strange noise Anna almost ran into Evan's back. Coming to a halt the young Blackwood stood in front of what appeared to be a variety of thorny bushes moving in what appeared to be a tangled mess.

Hearing growls, as well as rattles and a cacophony of noise, Anna watched in curiosity as Evan extracted a bloody chunk of meat with his fingers and threw it at the plants.

Right before her eyes the plants all seemed to come to life and try and fight over the piece of meat. It wasn't until a vicious strike from the plant on the right that she swore she saw teeth as it snatched the piece into what appeared to be a 'mouth'.

She would not admit it but she was glad there was no one to witness to the fact that she was hiding behind Evan.

"The one on the left is a Venomous Tentacula, the one in the middle is Snakevine, and Mum's favorite Nefertiti.* A very distant cousin 5 times removed gave Selene a clipping on inheriting the title of Lady for our house."

Anna was amazed, so many plants, and just from the small glimpse of their lives, It really was a whole new world of wonder.

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><p><strong>So that's the end of this chapter, so sorry for being gone, like I said it was quite a challenge to write this and I honestly don't know if I like it or not. Please tell me what you think. <strong>

**Until next time,**

**Beau**


	12. A Lesson In Magic

**Ello again my dears, I just want to say thank you for the reviews. **

**Please tell me what you think, I want to hear your opinions and feedback, but I will have to say if you are only here to flame please find something else to read. This is fan-fiction after all.**

**I just want to say that I'm sorry for the delay. **

**Also I want to answer a few questions. **

**Is Nefertiti a reference to the Addams Family?**

**Yes she is. That family is another branch that they are related to through the Black Family. **

**Who will Selene be paired with?**

**She will be with someone. While not the main plot to the story her romance does affect things and her dealings with everyone. You guys have no idea how bad I want to get to all the good stuff. But like I have said in the past I really want to build this world and all the fun I will have doing it. I'm hoping to make it as rich and full of life as I want my story to be. Just please be patient with me.**

**Also to let you know that Pearl and Anna are aware that Selene is Evan's Mother because of Selene and Evan's conversations in front of them a couple of times. They live in the same house so it was bound to happen anyway. But the circumstances of his birth shall be discussed later. lol**

**And Anna and Pearl will not go without a fight this time. They have someone in their corner. Things will be different compared to the show. **

**I hope you guys love it. I can't wait to see some feedback and what you think of this chapter. I admit I struggled a bit and moved some things around. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

**A Lesson In Magic**

The Blackwood and Zhu families had settled into a routine for the past week. In the mornings, they would have breakfast together before Selene would start Evan's lessons.

The majority of the time Selene would find herself with three students instead of one. Anna and Pearl being very eager to learn everything there was to know about the magical world.

A realm that they had no idea was practically hidden under a rock all this time. A whole other world hidden from their minds that they had no idea existed in the first place.

Evan just about preened like a peacock when Pearl and Anna would ask him all sorts of questions. Two vampires coming to him for knowledge. It was such a fanciful thought to have. Selene would shake her head when she would find all three of their heads buried in a book or five.

But the elder witch would just go about her business placing a hot cup of tea in front of them. Selene, of course would dutifully answer any questions that would come out of their mouths.

The immortal observed that Evan appeared to be quite mentally stimulated with more minds to keep him occupied. You could only do so much with letters between cousins after all.

Their healthy discussions had a tendency to lead to more puzzles and going into a deeper scope of their lessons. Her son would appear to be a little ahead of his current timetable leading up to school in the fall. No doubt he would be well above his peers. A part of the green eyed witch was quite prideful at the thought.

Even with so little time the two female vampires were quickly gaining on him. Apt learners, as they were quite intelligent. Though as the immortal witch thought about it, no one really ever could be prepared for the unimaginable becoming reality.

They were vampires so they should know better that anything was possible. But the very thought that mermaids, unicorns and for the love of god there were _dragons_! Large fire breathing lizards of epic proportions were real? Unbelievable...

But other times Selene would see mother and daughter spend time together alone when they were not occupied by lessons. The ever observant witch would keep Evan occupied during those times so that their house guests would have their privacy as they became reacquainted with one another.

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><p>In the 150 years that they have been separated while Pearl was asleep, Anna had to grow into herself and her independence. Making her own decisions and living all alone. She made due without her, but not one moment was spent without Annabelle thinking about her mother. Striving to do whatever was possible for them to reunite once again. Everything calculated to the last detail and finally brought to fruition.<p>

But things were different now and they no longer needed to worry and plan. For mother and daughter were together once more and now Anna was now the teacher and guide.

So far they have made some progress, Pearl was slowly being brought up to speed on the workings of the 21st century. Besides magic, Pearl also had to learn about the past 150 years as wells as the progression of technology.

Automobiles, television, small plastic devices known as cellular phones. All the knowledge she was absorbing was dizzying. But she was doing better than some wizards Selene and daughter reassured her. Apparently the majority of the wizarding world did not know how to dress properly nor navigate their way through technology well.

* * *

><p>It was later in the afternoon, and the two women were having afternoon tea while their children played in the snow. It was finally chilly enough for the change in weather. The glass window panes slightly frosted with snowflakes.<p>

Pearl took another sip from her teacup as she and her companion watched their children play, quite content to watch from the warmth of the solarium than be out in the cold. Warming charms were a wonderful thing she discovered. The elder vampire smiled as she watched the two play in the yard. With their secrets out in the open, Anna was certainly more playful with Evan zipping around as they played. Evan's growing magic leveled the playing field somewhat. But as she watched them a smile would appear on Pearl's lips.

She has never seen her daughter this playful and happy in a long while. Dark eyes fell on the dark haired witch, watching as she continued to drink her tea and observe their children.

Besides reconnecting with her daughter she got to know the emerald eyed witch more than just her nurse along with her son as she has discovered. It made sense they would play brother and sister considering how young she looked and how old Evan was.

Selene Blackwood she found was a kind woman. A witch who held no prejudice against her kind among others as she discovered in her lessons. Pearl knew of the existence of werewolves already but once again the ones in the magical world were different as well.

The woman's hospitality was quite generous welcoming them into her home. There was just something about the other woman who drew you in and she could see why Anna and Selene became such good friends.

They would even discuss her favorite topic and Selene was quite content to show her the magical and mundane plants and herbs of her garden handing the oriental woman a slightly worn herbology book. It was quite large and as she read over the cover. It was "Goshawk's Guide to Herbology" the largest book that Selene could find in her library by recommendation of a friend. Selene knew if anything she might have found another herbology fanatic like Neville. Though from their discussions, it would appear Pearl would be quite adept at potions as well.

Considering that Pearl use to have an apothecary before she was locked away. Making elixirs, remedies, and salves for the townsfolk. The majority of it was Chinese medicine, they were well-known for their craft.

While both vampires have been in lessons, it was more theoretical and they would observe when it came to Evander's practicals. Though Selene was quite curious to see if it was possible for them to make potions.

From deep discussions about their creation, they were created through sacrificial magic. It did not surprise the witch since that particular field played a large part in death magic.

That magic, while not much, should be enough for the vampires to be able to brew a potion considering even squibs could brew.

Though before she would let Pearl have free reign of the greenhouse portion of the solarium, Selene did point out the ones to avoid unless the witch was there with her.

Pearl had quickly become acquainted with Selene's pet plant Nefertiti while beautiful the plant was quite dangerous. It smelled quite lovely and appeared to have little buds beginning to grow. The plant would lure in food by the lovely smell then strangle its victims, the thorns would secrete a paralyzing agent. It was marvelous in Pearls opinion she had no idea why Annabelle did not like it. Nefertiti was quite sweet to her...

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><p>As Selene was taking another sip of jasmine tea the peace was interrupted by a familiar tapping sound. Looking over to her right she saw the shape of an owl perched on a post. A lovely cream-colored barn owl from the looks of it.<p>

With a motion of her hand, the glass pane unlatched itself before moving upward. the bird quickly flew in before perching on Selene's shoulder.

The witch offered a bit of bacon from her plate, before gently petting the male's soft breast feathers. It cooed before extending his leg out for the parcel. Gently untying it she took the little, wrapped parcel from its leg. With a gentle nip to her finger, the bird flew further into the solarium to rest.

Turning it over in her hands she noticed it was under a shrinking charm. placing it on the table she tapped her index finger on top of the package. The brown wrapping paper unfurled to reveal a tiny black box with a little red bow. Tapping it once again it grew in size revealing a glossy lacquered wood box with a crimson silk ribbon tied into a lovely bow, sitting in its place.

The immortal witch smiled as she admired it. Turning the gift in hand she waved her hand over the box and watched as the box turned a soft blue indicating a preservation charm had been placed on the parcel. Gently grasping the tag she turned it over and saw Sanguini's elegant script.

_**Pearl Zhu**_

_**Welcome back to the world of the unliving. Selene has told me much about you. I look forward to further letters. Please accept this gift and may fate be in your favor.**_

_**Sanguini**_

So it would seem that Sanguini's interests were peaked. She had mentioned Pearl in her last correspondence with the elder vampire.

Selene smiled before sliding the package over to her companion. Pearl quirked an eyebrow at her a curious look on her face. Perusing the beautiful box slender fingers gently turned the tag over to read the message.

Looking back up at the witch all she got was a mischievous smile. " You appear to have an admirer" Pearl gave her friend a slight glare. "Hush you." Selene gave a soft chuckle her smile hidden behind the rim of her tea cup.

"Well open it then." Ignoring the green eyed witch the 500 year old vampire did just that.

Tugging at the red ribbon she watched it come undone. Pearl gently raised the lid off the wood box and was pleasantly surprised with the boxes contents.

Hidden inside the box was 4 vials cradled in crushed red velvet. Raising one of them into the light Pearl admired the beautiful crystal. Compared to the handy blood replenishers the contents were a dark red instead of the blush hue the blood replenishers had.

Opening the vial she took a deep wiff and sighed at the intoxicating aroma. Taking a tiny sip her eyes fluttered shut at the iron rich blood hitting her taste buds. Pearl couldn't exactly describe the taste but she felt like a great surge of energy rushing through her body.

It was invigorating beyond imagination and as Pearl continued to savor and drink the revitalizing elixir she felt like she was becoming whole once more.

Looking up from her reverie was to see Selene looking at her with fascination. She must be a sight to her companion. Fangs down, veins exposed and her eyes bloodshot.

Tilting her head back Pearl squeezed her eyes shut tightly slowly breathing in and out to calm herself. It had been forever since she had partaken in blood. The small amount that she took from the Doppelganger was inadequate, lacking... But the blood that she had just partaken in took her by surprise and exposed her.

It was just a few moments later that she was back in control only to find Selene smiling at her.

"What?" A weary look on her face, and she would not admit it until later but she was slightly defensive still. It was one thing to say that you don't find vampires to be evil, actions always spoke louder than words she found.

Selene's lips quirked into a smile, "Nothing Pearl, it's fascinating I did not know that happened when you drank blood."

Pearl shook her head no. "Not always, only when we are newly turned, want to frighten our prey, or have lost control. " She was blunt but honest, having no qualms with what she was, testing the witch.

The witch hummed before replying. "Sanguini and his kind don't do that. Their eyes glow a bright red all you will see in is two bright orbs in the dark of night before you cease to exist. Though I'm not surprised by your reaction. That vial has one of the most potent blood you will find."."

Pearl's eye drifted from the gift to the note and back to her companion once more.

"How long have you known him?"

"About 13 years now give or take, I've learned a lot from Sanguini you would like him no doubt. I'll be visiting with him quite soon."

Selene paused, looking away from her companion she watched their children cease-fire and were trudging their way through the snow and back to the house.

Though now that she thought of it, she really should get around to setting up the floo connection. They would be leaving for France soon enough. Staying on that train of thought the witch's voice broke the comfortable silence. "I want you to know that Evander and I shall be leaving in the next two days. We shall be heading to France to visit our extended family. I would like it if you were to continue to recover and stay here if you are not averse to it Pearl. Evander and I shall arrive back on the 1st of the new year."

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><p>It was two days later that the two magic users found themselves standing in the middle of the living room. The fire gently crackling behind them as they faced the two vampires. Mother and daughter were up earlier than usual it was 6 am that morning and they were seeing the duo off for France.<p>

"Ready Evander?"

"Yes, Mother."

Anna figured they would be taking a taxi off to the airport but they were proven otherwise.

"Do you need me to drive you to the airport? You never mentioned what time your flight leaves."

"There is no need to be bothered with the cold. We shall be traveling by floo. I finally got around to setting it up this morning."

Selene smiled at Anna, amusement dancing in her eyes at the look of confusion on her face. Her mother equally curious. Turning to Evander the witch gave her son a once over.

He was wearing a forest green jumper that she picked up the last time she visited the town square. It was a warm and thick cable knit that she thought would look quite handsome on him. He was also wearing black slacks and the black dragon hide boots Charlie had given him for Yule last year. They would grow with him for the next year or two.

She herself was wearing a white cable knit sweater to match with a black dragon hide pencil skirt that reached to just an inch above her knees. The immortal witch also wore black stockings with black dragon-hide heeled ankle boots. With a string of pearls around her neck with pearl studs to match.

Their belongings were beside them in their trunks. Both large camel back styled trunks that were made of cherry wood with gold clasps, locks and hinges. Each were inscribed with their initials.

Selene gave her son a slight nod of her head. Watching him bend at the waist he tapped his index finger on the lid of his mother's trunk and not a moment later they watched it shrink down to the size of a box of matches.

Turning to his own trunk he did the same. Picking them up from the ground he turned towards his mother before handing them over to her. He smiled when he noticed the look on their guests faces. They never failed to be fascinated by what they saw.

Anna shook her head in disbelief. "I still can't believe all the things we are learning from you guys. We really had no idea how different you are from the witches."

Selene met Evander's eyes both amused by their friend. They had no idea what the world had in store for them. Smiling the immortal witch motioned for Anna and Pearl to come closer. Opening her arms she enclosed Anna in a tight hug before pressing a kiss to her cheek in farewell before doing the same to Pearl.

"Remember you are welcome to the house. Be sure to feed Nefertiti and her fellow carnivores."

Turning away from them the green eyed witch walked over to the fireplace mantle. Reaching for a small glazed gray pot she lifted the item in question off their mantel piece before presenting it to the audience in the room.

Lifting the lid, she handed it to them for inspection. Inside was a bright silvery green powder that smelled like burnt wood. It felt soft and slightly stained their fingers green. Selene gently took the jar back before presenting it to her son.

Giving him the go ahead she watched as he grabbed a small handful before moving closer to the fireplace. Grabbing her own handful she placed the rest on the mantelpiece before turning back to them.

"This is one of the many ways we travel. This is called Floo powder that lets us travel through our floo network between fireplaces."

At the curious look on their faces the witch had a mischievous look on her face that was met equally with her son. Giving him the go ahead she watched as her son threw the ashes into the gentle flames of the fire.

It roared in reaction to the powder rising high in the fireplace as it turned to different shades of bright green and yellow. Both vampires took a large step back closer to the couch.

Vampires did not exactly do well with fire. When they saw Evan walk up to the flames they ignored their instincts for survival and quickly pulled him away from it.

Selene smiled at their reaction, "Thank you for your concern but it is not necessary." Wanting to show them proof she extended her hand into the flame.

The little tendrils of magic sensing her languidly wrapped and caressed her fingers curling around the digits before she pulled her hand away. Seeing that there was no burns in sight the two vampires released their protective hold on Evan.

Evander gave Anna a quick hug before releasing her and giving a quick goodbye to her mother before walking back up to the fireplace. With a clear voice, he spoke the name of their destination. "Delacour Manor" The fire seemed to grow even more as the 10 year old stepped into the flames as they swallowed him whole.

The fire quickly died down to a mellow orange, the magical powder having been used for its purpose. It did not last for long though as the immortal witch threw her own powder into the flames. Once more roaring to life as it licked at the surround bricks.

Selene gave them a wave goodbye before stepping closer to the flames. "Delacour Manor" she stated clearly. The two Asian vampires watched as their friend too stepped into the green and yellow flames. Like a wave, it crashed into her and swirled around her and in a blink of the eye she was gone.

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><p><strong>So that's the end of this chapter. Please tell me what you think. <strong>

**Until next time,**

**Beau**


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